A spokesman of the the Israeli Ministry of Defence announced
Monday evening that that the military would allow industrial diesel fuel to
enter the Gaza Strip for one day only on Tuesday.
"On a one-time basis, Israel will allow in industrial
diesel," said Shlomo Dror, the spokesman of the Israeli Ministry of
Defence, adding that medicines would also enter. The rocket and mortar fire by Palestinian militants into Israel
had reached exceptionally high numbers last week and prompted the decision to
close the borders, officials said.
The lock-down caused the Strip's only local power plant to
shut down. Power plant head Rafik Maliha said some 800,000 Gazans had no
heating and were forced to use candles for light. Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Nimr Hamad, a spokesman
for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Gaza would have normal electricity supplies
by Tuesday, claiming that Abbas' efforts had led to the planned fuel imports.
Earlier, Rafik Husseini, Abbas' bureau chief, said the
situation in Gaza, which he termed
"collective punishment," was making it hard to continue negotiating a
final peace deal with Israel. Israel
largely closed its borders with Gaza
after the radical Islamic Hamas movement captured an Israeli soldier, who is
still being held captive, in a cross-border raid 18 months ago.
But on Friday, Israel closed also its Nahal Oz and
Kerem Shalom crossings, which had thus far remained open, to shipments of basic
necessities, including key food products, drugs and fuel. Hundreds of Gazans were lining up outside bakeries Monday,
seeking to stock up on already scarce bread. "The situation is disastrous," Hamas spokesman
Ismail Radwan told reporters in Gaza
City.
Warning of a "big explosion" that would have
"consequences on the entire region," he urged Egypt to open
its border with the Gaza Strip to medical supplies, food and fuel. Israel,
however, has accused Hamas of exaggerating the humanitarian situation in Gaza for
"propaganda" purposes.
It pointed out Israel's own power plants continue to supply
124 megawatts of electricity to the Strip, in addition to another 17 megawatts
provided by Egypt. A government statement said that met some three-quarters of Gaza's daily needs, while there was no food shortage and
patients would be able to enter Israel
for urgent treatment.
"We won't allow a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. That is
clear," a defiant President Ehud Olmert told his Kadima faction in Jerusalem.
