Hamas/Israel/UE

       The Defense Ministry had said it would allow 30 truckloads of humanitarian supplies into Gaza on Thursday, but the crossings were kept shut yesterday because militants fired fire rockets and mortars into Israel earlier security officials said.
Later in the day, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to keep the crossings shut after receiving an intelligence warning of a plan by Palestinian militants to attack the Kerem Shalom border terminal.
UN official Chris Gunness said Israel was holding up planned food aid shipments to Gaza, and that this meant the UN Relief and Works Agency would not be able to deliver food to 750,000 Gaza residents beginning on Friday.  IDF spokesman Peter Lerner said the crossings were shut because of rockets and mortars that Palestinian terrorists fired at Israel early Thursday. Five mortar shells fired from the Strip landed in open areas in the Eshkol region, though no casualties or damage were reported in the attack. The rocket fire came in response to an IDF operation in which troops thwarted an attempt by Palestinian gunmen to plant an explosive device along the Gaza border on Wednesday. Senior Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad on Thursday said Israel's truce with Hamas in Gaza, ruptured by a flare-up in cross-border fighting, will resume only when the Palestinian militant group keeps its commitments. The lull will return only when we are convinced that Hamas has gone back to its commitment to keep the lull, because it decides when [militants] shoot and when they don't," said Gilad, speaking on Israel Radio. Gilad defended Israel's closing of the border crossings against claims that it would prevent Gazans from meeting their most basic needs. "Israel is working to prevent the occurrence of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but will not endanger its soldiers by continuing to supply produce - because Hamas even attacks the crossings' terminals," he told Israel Radio. "The murderous attacks must end. We are sensitive to the humanitarian situation but there is a serious concern that murderous and terrorist acts will take place." Israel also held up shipments of European Union-funded fuel to the territory's sole power plant. Palestinian officials said the facility would be shut down later in the day. Also Thursday, Israel prevented 20 European Union consul generals from entering Gaza on Thursday after a recent upsurge in clashes between the Israel Defense Forces and Gaza militants. The consuls had planned to meet with businesspeople and human rights activists in the Hamas-ruled coastal territory in order to learn about the humanitarian situation. Early in the day, Palestinian bombarding southern Israel after the IDF killed four Hamas gunmen in the Strip on Wednesday. A senior official at the French Consulate, which had arranged the trip, said he could not remember another time when Israel had prevented diplomats from entering Gaza over reasons that were not security-related. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Peter Lerner told Haaretz that Israel had informed the diplomats on Wednesday of its intention to prevent their entry, and yet they still attempted to cross into Gaza. "The reason their entry was prevented was because it was not humanitarian. The policy today is only to allow the most essential entry... I hope [Gaza militants] will stop shooting missiles and then we can return to the previous situation," he said. Hamas officials said that the activity of the only power plant in the Gaza Strip would be suspended on Thursday evening due to insufficient fuel supplies, Army Radio reported. Hamas also criticized Israel for not allowing French diplomats to enter the Gaza Strip in order to report on the humanitarian situation there. "Israel is trying to prevent the world from seeing the real situation in Gaza," they reportedly said. ( 20,30)