GAZA: In a sudden move that will directly hit civilians, Israel on Friday closed all the commercial crossing points with the Gaza Strip, according to Raed Fatouh, head of the coordinating committee responsible for importing goods into Gaza.
Fatouh said the Israeli step was sudden, and no reason was given as to why the crossing points would be closed. In the past several weeks the crossings operated six days a week. He added that the crossings would remain closed on Saturday.
Israeli reports indicated on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the step to allow minimal amount of goods into the Gaza Strip, after coming under US and EU pressure.
The new Israeli step follows two weeks of increasingly diminished supplies for the Gaza Strip. But on Thursday Israeli media sources reported that Israel allowed limited amounts of cement and construction materials into the Gaza Strip for reconstruction projects.
This is the first time in months Israel has allowed the entry of construction materials and cement into the blockaded enclave.
The Israeli decision to allowing the limited amounts of construction materials into Gaza came after the UN Special Envoy to the Middle East presented a plan to construct ten projects financed by the United Nations.
Many buildings in Gaza remain in ruins since Israel’s December-January offensive because of an acute shortage of construction materials that can only officially enter Gaza through Israel-controlled crossings.
But Israel has come under massive international pressure to ease the blockade on Gaza following its offensive on the territory where about 1,400 Palestinians were killed and approximately 5,500 others were wounded.
