Israel to resume Gaza fuel shipments
Yaakov Katz and Tovah Lazarov , THE JERUSALEM POST May. 11, 2008
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The supply of fuel to Gaza is likely to be resumed on Monday, sources in the
Defense Ministry told The Jerusalem Post Sunday. Otherwise, a World Health
Organization official said, Gaza City's main Shifa Hospital would be left in
the dark within a day.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak stopped the transfer of fuel over the weekend in
response to the barrage of Gazan rockets that killed Kibbutz Kfar Aza
resident Jimmy Kedoshim, 48, Friday evening.

But defense officials plan to revisit the decision on Monday and are likely
to agree to resume fuel shipments.

At 5 p.m. on Saturday, the Gaza power plant, which is powered by fuel from
Israel shut down. It supplies 28 percent of Gaza's electricity.
Israel provides 62% of the Gaza Strip's electricity, while 8% comes from
Egypt.

The United Nations and nongovernmental groups said on Saturday and Sunday
that the lack of fuel was causing a severe humanitarian crisis.
Oxfam International on Sunday called on Israel to immediately send fuel over
the border.

"Oxfam calls on all parties to guarantee the safety of operations at the
Nahal Oz fuel crossing so electricity generation essential for vital health
and water services can be immediately resumed in Gaza," said Oxfam
International director Jeremy Hobbs.

Shadi Yassin, an IDF spokesman, said Israel was unable to provide the full
amount last week because Palestinians fired mortars at the Gaza fuel depot
at the Nahal Oz crossing.

But Mujahid Salame, head of the Palestinian Authority's Petrol Authority in
the West Bank, said the fuel should have been enough to keep the power plant
going until Monday evening. Salame is hostile to Hamas but coordinates the
entry of fuel into the Gaza Strip.

The 560-bed Shifa Hospital had fuel to operate its generators for only one
more day, said Mahmoud Daher, the Gaza director for the World Health
Organization.
The pediatric hospital in Gaza and Um Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis were
also at a critical point, as was the central pharmacy in which vaccines and
other perishable supplies were stored, Daher said.

In Gaza City on Sunday, the lack of electricity caused a host of problem
including a lack of running water and elevator services. Bakeries were
forced to shut down.

Hamas is widely believed to be hoarding fuel for commercial vehicles,
ensuring its loyalists get supplies first.

Ziad Zaza, a member of the Hamas government in Gaza, said fuel would be
distributed to bus companies to transport private individuals and students.
He did not say where the government obtained the fuel.

"This is another example of Hamas orchestrating an artificial crisis," said
government spokesman David Baker in Jerusalem.

Because elevators weren't working, Mona Bukhari stayed inside her apartment
on the sixth floor of a Gaza City building. The 47-year-old housewife said
she had a weak heart and couldn't comfortably walk up stairs. She sent her
children to fill bottles from a well across the road.

Salim Murtaja, 44, said he passed seven shuttered bakeries while trying to
find bread on Sunday. About 50 of 75 bakeries in Gaza closed because they
had no fuel for their ovens, officials said.

Kanan Obeid, a senior Gaza power plant official, said Israel provided about
2 million liters of diesel fuel last week, just short of what they needed.
They ran out of fuel on Saturday afternoon, he said.

AP contributed to this report.