By Xinhua,
Gaza : Israel Wednesday closed the Nahal Oz fuel depot, which supplies most of the Gaza Strip’s fuel, after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants seriously wounded a worker near it.
“Israel stopped fuel shipments into Gaza after a rocket landed on the Palestinian depot”, where Israeli fuel is accumulated before being pumped into Gaza, said Mujahed Salama, director of the Palestinian Petroleum Agency (PPA).
He said the decision was due to security reasons.
Salam said a PPA worker was seriously wounded in the attack, which also damaged cooking gas pipes. “Quick reaction by other workers have prevented a disaster from occurring,” he said.
He described the rocket attack as “unjustified criminal act”, accusing the Palestinian militants, of “seriously seeking to suffocate Gaza by preventing fuel deliveries”.
No Palestinian militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israel closes the Nahal Oz crossing from time to time due to attacks. Since September, three months after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Israel restricted fuel shipments to the coastal strip to pressure Hamas into stopping rocket fire.