Raed Fatouh, a Palestinian liaison officer, told reporters that Israel cited security concerns when it informed the Palestinian side about the closure.
The closure began on Tuesday, two days ahead of spike in border violence which saw 18 Palestinians killed and more than 60 wounded in Israeli aerial and ground attacks across the coastal enclave. Despite an announced ceasefire that went into effect before midnight Sunday, the closure continues.
Fattouh said the closure of Gaza crossing, through which 1.6 million residents of the territory get humanitarian aid, fuel and limited commercial goods, was devastating for the commercial sector.
Earlier this year, Israel decided to close Karni Crossing in eastern Gaza City, which the Palestinians said had a bigger capacity than Kerem Shalom located in eastern Rafah City.
Four commercial crossings to exchange goods between Gaza and Israel were operating on full capacity, but when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Israel imposed a near-total blockade only allowing humanitarian goods to enter Gaza.
Deputy head of the oil and gas station owners union, Mahmoud Al-Khozandar, said that a fuel crisis was looming, and that fuel had not entered Gaza for 11 days.
In a statement Monday, Al-Khozandar said that even before crossings were closed for “security reasons”, Israel stopped pumping fuel into the coastal enclave.
As a result of the strict siege imposed on the territory, Gazans were forced to resort to smuggling fuel and other essential goods into Gaza via hundreds of tunnels dug underneath the Gaza-Egypt borderline.
