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Israel reimposes blockade of fuel deliveries to Gaza
JERUSALEM, Aug 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Israel reimposed a blockade of fuel
supplies to Gaza on Thursday in response to a resurgence of the flow of fire
kites across the border, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.
Lieberman said the crackdown was in response to “the pursuit of terrorism”
using fire kites and balloons amid persistent protests along the border.
Israel already imposed a blockade on fuel deliveries to Gaza on July 17 but
lifted it a week later in response to a reduction in the number of kites and
balloons carrying firebombs into Israeli territory.
Israel says the devices have sparked hundreds of fires since April and
caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage.
Palestinians in Gaza see the kites and balloons as legitimate resistance
against Israel’s decade-long blockade of the territory.
The coastal enclave suffers from a severe lack of electricity and relies on
fuel-powered generators during outages that last hours at a time.
Israel controls all access to and from the territory apart from a single
crossing with Egypt which has been only rarely opened.
It has fought three wars with Palestinian militants in Gaza since 2008 and
says the blockade is necessary to keep them from obtaining weapons or
materials that could be used for military purposes.
UN officials have called repeatedly for the blockade to be lifted, citing
deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the territory, where some 80 percent
of the two million population depend on aid.
Mass protests for the return of Palestinian refugees to their former homes
in Israel began along the border on March 30, triggering a deadly response
from the Israeli army.
At least 157 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. One Israeli
soldier has been killed.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1220 hrs