Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., April 29, 2008 Nisan 24, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:24 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Shortage of cooking gas in Gaza shuts down bakeries By Haaretz correspondents and AP , By Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay A severe shortage of cooking gas in the Gaza Strip caused many bakeries outside Gaza City to shut down yesterday because the bakers were unable to use their ovens. Gaza officials said that if the gas supply is not renewed, all bakeries in the Strip will close by the end of the week. Cooking gas is not available for private use either, creating a shortage of supplies in Gaza homes. Some families are using fire to cook in tabun ovens being built due to the shortage, and are using as fuel any available flammable object, including wood, plastic and alcohol. Advertisement Israel stopped supplying gas to Gaza several days ago. Israel is the sole source of Gaza's fuel, but supplies have been sporadic since Palestinian militants attacked the Nahal Oz fuel depot on the border with Gaza this month, killing two Israeli workers. A group of Palestinians, some of them armed, prevented United Nations tankers from filling up at the Nahal Oz depot yesterday, after Israel agreed to transfer diesel fuel and gasoline to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The Palestinian group blocking the tankers included farmers and fishermen demanding that they too, not just the UNRWA, should receive gasoline. The gas and diesel shortage is continuing to cause damage. Many of the water pumps that farmers use to irrigate their crops have either stopped working or are working partially, damaging some of the crops. Likewise, the fishermen don't have enough fuel to get out to sea. Also in Gaza yesterday, Palestinian militants fired four Qassam rockets on the western Negev, causing no injuries or damage. Meanwhile, the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone on Israel's border with the West Bank reopened yesterday, two days after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli security guards there. Eighty-five percent of the workers at the eight factories at Nitzanei Shalom came to work yesterday, according to the industrial zone's administration. Some 500 of the workers are Palestinians who live in the nearby West Bank city of Tul Karm and about 200 are Jewish. The factories, along with the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Defense Forces, began a joint investigation yesterday into the terror attack. The gunman fled to Tul Karm after killing security guards Eli Wasserman and Shimon Mizrahi at close range. IDF officials expressed surprise that the attack led to the death of two guards, even though it involved a lone terrorist facing three armed guards and the security guards had undergone a training exercise a month ago. An IDF investigation has uncovered a series of security foul-ups, from broken security cameras to inappropriate behavior on the part of the guards. One guard ran away when he heard gunfire, another guard left his weapon in his car and a third was standing with his back to the gate. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Obscene gestures Alleged 'Heil Hitler' comment lands German lawyer Horst Mahler in court AMOS-3 video Israel's sophisticated new communications satellite launched into orbit.

Read & React Burston: Our Defense Forces, our war crimes, our terrorism Responses: 131 Israel: UNIFIL hiding info about Hezbollah from Security Council Responses: 175 Barak: Hamas is to blame for deaths in the Gaza Strip Responses: 475 Settlers to move into East Jerusalem police HQ compound Responses: 65 More Headlines 21:57 IDF: Gaza blast was caused by militants' explosives 22:26 Lebanese army: 12 IAF jets fly over Beirut, Lebanese areas 21:01 Video shows how AMOS-3 communications satellite was sent into orbit 23:49 Iranian official warns against Barbie, Harry Potter toys 22:17 Four wheels and an electronic brain: Meet IDF's newest soldier 17:20 Palestinian militant groups head to Cairo for Gaza truce talks 01:20 Russian-Jewish billionaire to build UK's priciest mansion 02:18 CIA Chief: Syrian site could've made plutonium for 2 nuclear weapons in a year 15:40 Palestinian court sentences accused collaborator to death 21:59 Gaza militants pound Negev with Qassams and mortar shells 21:09 Bank of Israel to keep interest rates at lowest point ever through May 23:11 Border Police officer convicted of killing Hebron teen jailed for 6 years Previous Editions Select Day 28 apr 27 apr 25 apr 24 apr 23 apr 22 apr 21 apr 20 apr 18 apr 17 apr 16 apr 15 apr

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