Gaza is on the verge of bread crisis, thousands march in protest, Zahar says all options open to end siege

Gaza is on the verge of bread crisis

[ 26/04/2008 - 02:18 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Many of Gaza bakers warned that the Strip is on the verge of acute bread crisis because their bakeries would stop working during the coming few days due to scarcity of cooking gas and the depletion of flour.

The bakers said that Gaza is suffering from flour crisis after many suppliers failed to deliver the remaining quantities of flour in their warehouses to bakeries because of lack of fuel supplies for their trucks.

The flour suppliers reported that the coming days would witness the shutdown of majority of bakeries, adding that the Israeli occupation had not allowed in flour quantities for more than a week because of the closure of the Mintar crossing.

In a related context, the agriculture ministry in Gaza categorically denied Saturday the fake allegations of Mahmoud Al-Habbash, a minister in the PA unconstitutional government in Ramallah, about preventing farmers in the Strip from receiving their quotas of fuel.

In a statement received by the PIC, the ministry underlined that Habbash is one of the prominent PA officials who contributes to the Israeli siege on Gaza through his repeated meetings with Israeli officials without even mentioning the suffering of Palestinian farmers during those meetings.

The statement affirmed that Gaza is completely empty of all petroleum derivatives, calling in this regard on Arab and international media outlets to verify Habbash's allegations on the ground through asking farmers, fishermen and owners of gas stations and stores about the truth of fuel condition in Gaza.

Thousands march in Gaza to protest against the siege

[ 25/04/2008 - 08:29 PM ] Palestinians protesting the siege at the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing

GAZA, (PIC)--

Hamas has organised a number of protest marches in the Gaza Strip after the Friday prayers in Gaza city, the northern and southern Gaza Strip to protest the continued siege on the Strip.

Protesters in Gaza city marched towards the centre of the city, while protestors in the southern Gaza Strip marched towards the Rafah crossing and in the northern Gaza Strip they marched towards the Beit Hanoun crossing.

Dr. Attallah Abu al-Sabeh, a Hamas leader told demonstrators in Rafah that the real battle to break the siege is with the Zionist occupation.

He also sent a message to Egypt saying that Hamas would never threaten the security of Egypt calling on the Egyptian government to help break the siege.

In the northern Gaza Strip thousands of Gaza residents participated in a huge demonstration at the Beit Hanoun crossing to protest the 10-month-old siege which is killing the people of Gaza slowly.

Dr. Yousuf al-Shurafi, a Hamas leader in the northern Gaza Strip said that these protests express the anger of the Gaza residents at the suffocating siege and closure of border crossings. He also lamented the official Arab silence in the face of such a crime calling upon Arab countries to break the siege before it is too late.

He called on Egypt to open the Rafah crossing which is the only crossing connecting the Gaza Strip to the outside world and criticised the US policies which support the targeting of the Palestinian people and their institutions by the Zionists.

Both Shurafi and Sabeh said that more than 135 Palestinian patients have so far died as a result of being barred from seeking medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip, while tens of seriously sick patients await a similar fait unless the siege is lifted soon.

They also stressed that the siege will ultimately fail to demoralize the Palestinian people or cause them to submit to the will of the occupation, neither will it stop the Palestinians from claiming and fighting for what is rightfully theirs.

Zahar: Our options are open to break the siege

[ 25/04/2008 - 09:01 PM ]

RAFAH, (PIC)--

Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar said on Friday that Hamas does not take the reply for its proposed period of calm from the media and warned anew of the continuation of the siege on Gaza.

Zahar told journalists at the Rafah crossing on his return from Cairo after having lengthy talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo that the official response to Hamas's proposed calm cannot be taken from media reports adding that the reply will be received from Egypt which is mediating between Hamas and the Israeli occupation government.

He also said that they expected a reply from Egypt within less than a week.

Zahar also said that Hamas's options to break the siege are open if the siege is not lifted through a calm agreement.

Zahar stressed that Hamas did not agree to giving the Israeli occupation government calm for nothing in return and that Egypt supports the conditions that Hamas has put forward for reaching an agreement adding that other Palestinian factions will discuss the issue in Cairo on Tuesday and Wednesday after which the Egyptian security chief, Omar Sulaiman will present the proposal to the Israeli occupation government.

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