By RIA Novosti,
Gaza : A UN relief agency resumed food deliveries to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after obtaining enough fuel for its vehicles, a spokesman for the agency said.
The United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNRWA) deliveries came after a five day break due to fuel shortages caused by Israeli restrictions on fuel supplies and deliveries of other essential goods to Gaza.
Trucks filled with 55,000 liters of diesel have now been sent to the Palestinian side of the Nahal Oz border crossing with Israel, said Christopher Gunness, an UNRWA spokesman.
The spokesman did not reveal the source of the fuel supplies. However, reports last week said that owners of filling stations in the Gaza Strip had agreed to provide the UN relief agency with their reserve fuel stocks to enable it to distribute food aid in the enclave. UNRWA needs 7,000 liters of fuel per day to carry out its operations.
Israel claims the blockade which led to the halt in food deliveries is an attempt to pressure the radical Islamic group Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June, to stop rocket attacks on Israeli border towns from the enclave.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry had earlier condemned the Israeli embargo, saying that the move would spark more tension in the region. It also called the restrictions the ‘collective punishment’ of the enclave’s inhabitants.
The fuel and food restrictions, the latest in a series of Israeli embargos, were imposed after Palestinian militants attacked the Nahal Oz oil depot, killing two Israeli workers, on April 9.
Israel has however resumed fuel supplies to Gaza’s only power plant, which generates over 30% of the enclave’s electricity.