By Xinhua,
Gaza : A senior Palestinian official said Israel on Wednesday resumed supply of a limited quantity of fuel into the Gaza Strip after an interruption which lasted for one month.
Ahmed Ali, Deputy Chief of Gaza Petrol Corporation in Gaza, told reporters that the quantity of fuel Israel allowed into Gaza Wednesday “is meager and little and won’t absolutely solve the fuel crisis in the Gaza Strip.”
The fuel shipments into Gaza “don’t exceed 130,000 liters of diesel out of 20 million liters of fuel that the enclave needs to resolve the crisis,” Ali said.
Ali stressed that the “frail” quantity does not mean a solution to the crisis in the Gaza Strip, especially in light of the acute shortage of all oil derivatives.
He said Gaza is also in need of 12 million liters of petrol following the long fuel interruption.
Due to a lack of fuel, more than 85 percent of Gaza traffics had stopped. Scores of employees and students can be seen hitch-hiking or going on foot to reach their workplace or schools.
“The occupation authorities (Israel) have deliberately reduced quantities and are deliberately allowing the supply of small quantities in separate periods to keep the crisis going on,” said Ali.
He described the fuel crisis in the Gaza Strip as “disastrous,” blaming Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) based in Ramallah for the crisis.
This is “part of the suffocating siege which aims at starving and weakening the population,” Ali said.
Israel has tightened the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since June last year by reducing the quantities of fuel supplies in response to an increase of rockets attacks from Gaza at southern Israel.