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Israel to halt fuel shipment to Gaza

DUBAI: Israel has threatened to terminate humanitarian supplies and sever ties with Gaza after besieged residents on Wednesday flooded neighbouring Egypt after breaching a southern border wall.

Israel’s Deputy Defence Minister, Matan Vilnai, told Army Radio that since “Gaza is open to the other side [Egypt] we lose responsibility for it. So, we want to disconnect from it.” He said Israel’s efforts to disengage from Gaza, which began with a unilateral pullout in 2005 “continues in that we want to stop supplying electricity to them, stop supplying them with water and medicine, so that it would come from another place.”

Israel has also decided to stop the emergency shipment of fuel that was scheduled to reach Gaza on Thursday. Palestinian sources said that without this shipment, the Gaza power station would be forced to shut down by Sunday.

Israeli authorities are furious with Egypt which allowed nearly 100,000 people to enter its territory through the southern Raffah crossing on the Gaza-Egyptian border. “I believe Egypt knows what its job is, and we expect them to fulfil its task in the framework of agreements,” Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said.

Israeli authorities are concerned that the Egyptian decision to allow Palestinians to enter its territory may mark a significant foreign policy shift.

The Israeli security establishment has also held the view that Cairo is not been doing enough to stop smuggling of weapons into Gaza recently. Egypt, on its part, has said that it would not use force to send back Palestinians who had crossed over.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the border would be closed once again after all the Palestinians had returned.

Reacting to Wednesday’s developments, the Palestinian group Hamas, which runs Gaza, said that Israel should not play any role in controlling the Gaza-Egypt border.

Despite bitter intra-Palestinian clashes in June, Hamas leaders have hinted that they would not oppose the deployment of rival Fatah personnel at the border.

“We do not want to control everything, we are part of the Palestinian people,” said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Mr. Haniyeh also urged Arab countries to “take all measures and procedures to practically end the Gaza Strip siege.” Meanwhile, Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel as saying that Islamic states should adopt “practical measures” and not be satisfied by condemning “Israeli crimes”.

Iran has been a significant player in Gaza because of its support for Hamas.

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