ISRAEL REOPENS KEREM SHALOM CROSSING TO GAZA
Gaza City, 16 Dhul Hijja 1434/21 October 2013 (MINA) – Israeli authorities opened Gaza’s Kerem Shalom terminal Sunday morning after a six-day closure for Eid al-Adha, a Palestinian official said.
Raed Fattouh, who coordinates imports into the Gaza Strip, said in a statement Sunday that Israel would allow 250 truckloads of goods into Gaza, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
He said that commercial commodities, agricultural products, humanitarian aid supplies and a limited amount of fuel and gas for domestic use would be allowed to pass through the terminal into Gaza.
Construction material will not be allowed in, he said.
Israel halted the entry of civilian building supplies into the Gaza Strip on Oct. 13 after the Israeli army discovered an underground tunnel, reportedly loaded with explosives, running from the southern Gaza Strip into an Israeli town.
“Due to security reasons, [the army] decided to stop for now the transfer of building materials into Gaza,” Guy Inbar, a spokesman for the Israeli defence ministry unit responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, past week.
Last month, Israel permitted cement and steel deliveries into the Gaza Strip – under Israeli blockade for six years – for use by the private sector for the first time since 2007.
It had banned such transfers for fear that the Palestinian movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, would use them to fortify its positions and build tunnels for attacks on Israel.
The Gaza Strip has been under a severe economic blockade imposed by the State of Israel since 2007.
The blockade has severely limited the imports and exports of the Gaza Strip and has led to frequent humanitarian crises and hardship for Gazans. These have been particularly severe given frequent Israeli military assaults, particularly in 2008-9 and 2011, which killed around 1,400 and 170 Gazans, respectively, and led to major infrastructural damage. (T/P09/P04).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
