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Last update - 14:52 10/11/2008
Barak orders Gaza crossings kept shut despite fuel shortage
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Tags: fuel shipments, israel news 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that the government has decided not to resume much-needed fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip.

Israel cut off the shipments last week in response to Palestinian rocket
attacks. Officials said Barak would meet with his aides later Monday to discuss the matter.
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The European Union, however, said it had been informed by Israel on Monday resumption of fuel shipments to the sole power plant in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip would be allowed starting on Tuesday.

Palestinian officials said the resumption would not come soon enough to prevent the plant running out of EU-funded fuel on Monday night, causing widespread blackouts.

Israel said it halted shipments of the fuel to the power plant in response to a surge in cross-border rocket attacks from the coastal territory over the last week.

Militants said they fired the rockets in response to an Israeli raid that killed six militants on November 4, casting doubt on a ceasefire that took hold in June.

"T[he Israel Defense Forces] informed us that fuel deliveries will resume tomorrow," said Alix de Mauny, a spokeswoman for the European Commission office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The EU's last shipment was made on November 4.

A senior Palestinian official with the power station said a fuel shortage would force the plant to shut down on Monday night. He said 750,000 to 800,000 Palestinians who live in and around Gaza City would be affected. Gaza is home to 1.5 million.

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, speaking on Army Radio, described the blackout threat as Hamas "propaganda" and "nonsense", pointing to large quantities of diesel fuel being smuggled into the Gaza Strip through tunnels from Egypt.

An EU official said the power plant was running "very low" on fuel and noted the facility used a special type of industrial fuel, not regular diesel.

Israel tightened its economic and military cordon of the Gaza Strip when Hamas Islamists seized the territory in June 2007 after routing secular Fatah forces loyal to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas.

Under the terms of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, Israel has loosened some restrictions on aid but humanitarian groups say conditions in the coastal enclave continue to deteriorate.

According to Israeli and Palestinian officials, the local plant generates about a third of the electricity consumed by Gazans. The rest comes from Israel, which was continuing supply, and Egypt.

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    Israel's president says the Arab peace plan is an opening for progress.
      1.   Duh? This is journalism? 15:28  |  Joe Sittizen 10/11/08
      2.   Vilnai:the epitome of hypocrisy 16:11  |  Arie 10/11/08
      3.   Why don`t they get fuel from their brothers in Egypt???? 16:22  |  B`Galil 10/11/08
      4.   Where are they getting fuel from? 16:38  |  Michael 10/11/08
      5.   Gee I wonder where they found fuel for the Qassams? 17:03  |  Jane 10/11/08
      6.   No problems with fueling Kassams 17:04  |  * BEN JABO 10/11/08
      7.   how romartic supper by candlelight for amira and friends 17:10  |  victor hardman 10/11/08
      8.   Bomb the power plant 17:13  |  ottomatik 10/11/08
      9.   Open crossings when shalit is free.... 17:28  |  bernard ross 10/11/08
      10.   Winds of change 17:31  |  Baz mann 10/11/08
      11.   Why not run a pipeline from Iran to Gaza? 17:49  |  Murray of Montreal 10/11/08
      12.   B`Galil? gaza under seige 17:51  |  try to pay attention 10/11/08
      13.   collective punishment is a war crime barak 17:54  |  dont leave home 10/11/08
      14.   C`mon America. Let`s lend a hand. 17:59  |  Lou Medel 10/11/08
      15.   actually murry iran has offered to fuel gaza through 18:12  |  egypt...but mubarak 10/11/08
      16.   victor amira may be under seige and in darkness 18:13  |  but she is 10/11/08
      17.   Michael for the umteenth time 18:16  |  EU pays for 10/11/08
      18.   Supplying the enemy 18:18  |  peter 10/11/08
      19.   17 - since when does Israel buy fuel from Egypt? 18:20  |  ChanahS 10/11/08
      20.   #1 18:26  |  Sami 10/11/08
      21.   #3 B`Galil 18:27  |  Conroy 10/11/08
      22.   #13 You should stay home 18:31  |  Conroy 10/11/08
      23.   #13, don`t leave home... 18:35  |  Silvienne 10/11/08
      24.   #22 Silvienne - You glass is half emptry 18:51  |  * BEN JABO 10/11/08
      25.   #15; The only good thing about Iran is their caviar 18:58  |  Murray of Montreal 10/11/08
      26.   Of course we must give them fuel and food. 19:01  |  Dimona Joe 10/11/08
      27.   Israel`s a beacon of human injustice against the Palestinians 19:06  |  Dutch 10/11/08
      28.   #25 Murray of Montreal, what kind of creme cheese? 19:20  |  Conroy 10/11/08
      29.   #7 Paul Harris, Wait until Israelis become wandering Jews again 19:32  |  Dutch 10/11/08
      30.   #1 What a crappy thinker Joe Sittizen is .... 19:40  |  Dutch 10/11/08
      31.   Aza - the new ghetto of Warshau 19:47  |  Vinny 10/11/08
      32.   #13 & 23 dont leave home & silvienne 19:51  |  Adrian de Klerk 10/11/08
      33.   No more fuel to Gaza till Shalit is home 20:00  |  Realist 10/11/08
      34.   Israel is still supplying water to Hamas! 20:01  |  Realist 10/11/08
      35.   #30 Look whose accusing people of being a "crappy thinker" 20:35  |  Conroy 10/11/08
      36.   Leftists and the Warsaw Ghetto 21:03  |  Not a Dhimmi no more 10/11/08
      37.   Yes ChanahS, Cut-Rate Natural Gas, Not Fuel 22:25  |  Reader 10/11/08
      38.   17 22:34  |  x-ray 10/11/08
      39.   Dutch 29 - in whose name exactly 16:26  |  ChanahS 13/11/08
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