Israel cut off fuel supplies to Gaza's 1.4 million residents
on Thursday, a day after four Palestinian militants infiltrated
the Israeli depot that is the territory's sole source of fuel and
shot dead two workers.
The brazen daylight raid in southern Israel threatened to set off
a new round of fighting in Gaza after a month long lull and could
jeopardize recently renewed peace efforts between Israel and
moderate Palestinians in the West Bank.
On Thursday afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators began
flocking to main intersections of Gaza City, the coastal strip's
largest town, to protest Israel's months-old blockade of the
territory and the accompanying economic sanctions that have
deepened the hardship of ordinary Gazans.
"Rescue Gaza, lift the siege imposed on Gaza,"
read signs hoisted at one junction.
A mass demonstration against the blockade has been
called for Friday.
Three smaller militant factions claimed they carried out the
attack on the Nahal Oz fuel depot on Wednesday, but the
Israeli government held Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible.
It sent tanks, troops and aircraft into the Palestinian
territory after the raid, killing at least eight Palestinians,
including three civilians.
Recent violence
Wednesday's attack upset more than a month of relative
calm following a broad Israeli military offensive that killed
more than 120 Gazans, including dozens of civilians. Since
the offensive ended in early March, Egypt has been trying
to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, and the
sides appeared to have been honoring an informal truce.
On Thursday, a senior Israeli official warned that more
reprisals were in the offing.
Abu Ahmed of Islamic Jihad said the attack deliberately
targeted the fuel depot on which Gazans depend.
"This fuel (from Israel) is dipped in humiliation," he said,
because people wait for it for hours. "If their fuel means
humiliation for us, we don't want it."
Israel did not ship fuel on Thursday and at least two Israeli
ministers said Israel should cut it off completely following
the attack. Other officials said the flow would be renewed
shortly to avert a humanitarian crisis.
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