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EU demands Israel ensure delivery of fuel to Gaza Strip
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 24 - 04 - 2008


European Union commissioner Louis
Michel on Thursday urged Israel to ensure the delivery of fuel
supplies to Gaza, but Israel blamed Hamas for the shortage and
accused it of staging a "fabricated" petrol crisis in the Strip, according to dpa.
Michel's call follows a warning Wednesday from the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which said it
would have to halt the distribution of food assistance to 650,000
refugees in the enclave because of a fuel shortage.
Israel however, said it transferred one million litres of fuel,
enough for humanitarian needs, to the Strip three weeks ago, but
800,000 litres were still waiting to be collected on the Palestinian
side of the key Nahal Oz fuel terminal.
An additional one million litres of fuel was transferred to the
Strip Wednesday night.
"Hamas can take the fuel but doesn't," Israel Foreign Ministry
Spokesman Arye Mekel charged, accusing the Islamist organization
which rules Gaza of propaganda.
Residents of the Strip said Hamas officials have taken fuel for
their own purposes and given it to high-ranking leaders and
government employees, but has not distributed the remainder to the
population at large.
Owners of gas stations in the salient have been on strike,
refusing to accept the fuel that Israel does supply, charging it is
not enough for all their needs.
The fuel shortage has become increasingly tangible over the past
week, with residents saying they have to go on foot to work, while
their children are forced to walk long distances to school in the
intense heat.
"It is unacceptable that the UN should find itself having to
consider suspending its humanitarian operations simply for a lack of
fuel for its vehicles," said Michel, who holds the EU executive's
development and humanitarian aid portfolio.
"It is essential that the fuel supply to Gaza is resumed, and in
particular that fuel provision for the United Nation's agencies as
well as basic services be guaranteed immediately," he added.
The EU is the biggest donor to the Palestinian Territories, and
the commission's relief package for Gaza alone amounts to almost 30
million euros (48 million dollars), officials in Brussels said.


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