Israel Punishes Gaza With Blockade on Fuel Supplies

By Mike Gibson

Israel maintained its blockade of Gaza yesterday despite warnings of a looming humanitarian disaster. With no fuel supplies coming in, bakeries and petrol stations shut and hospitals warned of possibly deadly power cuts having to be imposed. The UN said that vital food aid may have to be suspended within days.

But Israel at first insisted it would keep up the pressure on Gaza, keeping border crossings closed, in its campaign to stamp out rocket attacks from the territory aimed at Jewish settlements.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Gaza’s residents can “walk, without gas for their cars,” suggesting that the restrictions would not be lifted soon.

As the world looked on, Israel and Gaza’s Hamas government became locked in a public relations battle over the scale of the hardship.

An angry Hamas TV announcer shouted that “we are being killed, we are starving!” and Palestinian leaders issued emotional pleas for national unity, while Israel accused Hamas of fabricating a crisis to gain world sympathy.

Gaza’s power plant shut down late on Sunday, plunging Gaza City into darkness.

Hospitals said they were running out of fuel for their emergency generators.

“We have the choice to either cut electricity on babies in the maternity ward, or heart surgery patients, or stop operating rooms,” said Health Ministry official Moaiya Hassanain.

International food aid may be suspended by the week’s end if the closures continue, a UN spokesman said, because of a shortage of fuel and plastic bags used to pack food. Most Gaza residents rely on food aid.

Mr Olmert said he will not allow a humanitarian crisis to unfold, but also warned that Gaza’s 1.5m residents won’t be able to live a “pleasant and comfortable life” as long as southern Israel comes under rocket attack from there.

“As far as I’m concerned Gaza residents will walk, without gas for their cars, because they have a murderous, terrorist regime that doesn’t let people in southern Israel live in peace,” Mr Olmert said.

In addition to the fuel it receives from Israel to power its electrical plant, Gaza gets about 70% of its electricity directly from Israel and that has not been stopped, Israeli officials said.

Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said a reduction of rocket attacks this week was not enough to lift the blockade. The army said five rockets were fired on Sunday, down from 53 in the two previous days.

“If we open the crossings again tomorrow, there will be rockets that fall again on Israel,” Mr Dror said.

“They don’t want to recognise Israel and want to destroy Israel – that’s their problem. They shouldn’t expect that we will help them destroy us.”

He and other Israeli officials claimed Hamas was creating a false crisis and could resume supplying electricity to its people if it chose.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appealed to Israel to lift the blockade, although he rules only the West Bank after Hamas expelled his forces from Gaza last June.

Hundreds of Gaza residents, including doctors, Hamas politicians and ambulance drivers demonstrated near the border with Egypt, demanding it be opened.

Israel later said it will allow some food and fuel to cross into Gaza during today only.

The move came after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and urged him to ease restrictions. Mr Barak agreed to allow a one-time shipment of diesel fuel and medicine into Gaza.

“We think Hamas got the message,” said Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel. “As we have seen in the past couple of days when they want to stop the rockets they can.”

A Hamas spokesman dismissed the decision.

“This does not mean the end of the siege on Gaza,” he said, pledging to continue to fight “until we break the siege”.

(c) 2008 Western Mail. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.