Israeli occupation government begins cutting fuel supplies to Gaza Strip

Date: 28 / 10 / 2007 Time: 14:13

Gaza – Ma'an –

The Israeli occupation government tightened its grip on the Gaza Strip on Sunday by limiting supplies of fuel into the territory.

Nehro Hisamawi, the director of the distribution center at Nahal Oz, Gaza's principle entry point for liquid fuels, said the Israeli occupation government allowed only 300,000 liters of diesel fuel into Gaza, down from the usual level of 350,000. Hisamawi said the 14 percent reduction could be the beginning of a gradual policy of deprivation of fuel.

On Thursday, the Israeli occupation government defense minister Ehud Barak approved a plan to cut off electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip in what the Israeli government says is a strategy to prevent Palestinian fighters from constructing and launching projectiles into Israel.

Barak's press spokesperson told reporters that reductions in fuel supplies would begin Sunday and power cut would begin over the coming days.

The Israeli occupation government has already cut electricity supplies to the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun over the past week.

The spokesperson of Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense Minister, told Agance France Presse that reduction of fuel supply will start on Sunday, and that electricity will be cut for intervals starting the coming days.

The Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz meanwhile reported a more dramatic reduction in fuel supplies, quoting Mojahed Salama, the head of the Palestinian Petrol Agency. Salama said Israel reduced supplies of diesel and benzene by 40 to 50 percent.

The Israeli Defense Ministry denied making any cutbacks.

Israel Cuts Fuel Supplies to Gaza Strip

By SARAH EL DEEB
Associated Press Writer

Oct 28, 2007, 9:20 AM EDT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) --

Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups say that Israel remains responsible for the well-being of Gaza's 1.4 million people. They say that despite the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, Israel still controls the area's borders - limiting imports, exports and the movement of human beings in and out of the area - and therefore continues to occupy the strip.

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