Israel accuses Hamas of fabricating fuel crisis in Gaza Strip

      Israel on Thursday accused Hamas of causing a "fabricated fuel crisis" by refusing to collect and distribute the one million liters of fuel Israel has delivered to the salient. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that "there is currently no fuel available in the Gaza Strip on the open markets" and as a result the organization would be forced to halt food assistance to 650,000 refugees in the enclave. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said Thursday that the million liters of fuel that Israel transferred to the Gaza Strip three weeks ago are still waiting to be collected on the Palestinian side of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. "Hamas can take the fuel but doesn't," he charged, accusing the Islamist organization of deliberately wanting to claim there is a crisis in the Strip. Residents of the Strip said Hamas officials have taken fuel for their own purposes and given it to high-ranking officials, governmental employees and its own students, but failed to distribute the remainder to the population at large. (21,26)