Israel to resume fuel supplies to Gaza

        Israel plans to transfer fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip via the Nahal Oz depot within the "next couple of days," a government official told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night. Israel also dismissed as "Hamas spin" Palestinian claims that fuel was running low and that electricity supplies in Gaza would have to be cut. Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel told the Post, "This is malicious cynicism on the part of Hamas to allow a terrorist attack in which two Israeli civilians are killed, and then to immediately complain if Israel cuts fuel supplies as a result." Mekel said a security assessment was still taking place but stressed that it was not Israeli policy to cut off fuel supplies, and that Israel would not allow a humanitarian crisis to develop in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza power plant's fuel reserves have been low in recent months, after Israel restricted fuel supplies in hopes of forcing terrorists to halt rocket attacks from Gaza. Hamas was instigating a fuel crisis in Gaza and was harming Palestinian civilians as part of a propaganda effort aimed at deflecting pressure away from itself onto Israel, the IDF said in a statement on Saturday evening. Malikha's claim that the Gaza plant was suffering from a fuel shortage was dismissed by Col. Nir Press, head of the IDF's Coordination and Liaison Administration at Erez. "The State of Israel has continued to transfer fuel into the Gaza Strip in a continuous manner in the recent period," said Press. "In the past two weeks, we have seen Palestinian activity aimed at instigating a crisis in the fuel sector through planned strikes and protests," Press continued. "The closed fuel stations in Gaza and the long lines of vehicles and people waiting long hours to fill their cars are the product of Hamas activity and a planned media campaign, which comes at the expense of [Gazan] residents." The "crisis" has "been caused by a failure to gather fuel on the Palestinian side of the Nahal Oz depot," Press said. "For the past two weeks, fuel on the Palestinian side of Nahal Oz could have been gathered and distributed to gas stations, but this has not happened… as of today, 188,000 liters of gasoline and over 800,000 liters of diesel fuel are sitting in containers on the Palestinian side," he added. "Hamas is deliberately harming civilians in Gaza by refusing to allow the fuel to be gathered and distributed to gas stations for humanitarian needs." The Coordination and Liaison Administration said 2,200,000 liters of diesel fuel and fuel oil is transferred to the Gaza power plant every week. An unlimited amount of cooking gas, 800,000 liters of diesel fuel and 75,000 liters of gasoline cross into Gaza every week, the administration added. Wednesday's terrorist attack on the fuel depot was "further proof of the terrorism directed from the Gaza Strip at Israel, directed at crossings which serve the Palestinians, and at Israeli civilians who were working for the welfare of Palestinians," Press said. Meanwhile, the Popular Resistance Committees warned Saturday that a "volcano" was set to erupt at any moment due to the Gaza blockade. The terror organization also condemned Arab and Muslim countries for their silence over the Gazans' predicament. (08,30)