Israel orders Gaza lockdown

18/01/2008| IslamWeb

Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister, has ordered the closure of all crossings into the Gaza Strip.

The move announced by Barak on Thursday night, is set to cut off the flow of vital supplies into the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Hamas, the Palestinian group, seized control of Gaza seven months ago.

"This measure, which will remain in effect for several days, covers both commercial traffic and persons," an Israeli official said.

Shlomo Dror, a defense ministry spokesman, said the decision is meant to pressure the Hamas to halt rocket fire at southern Israel.

"It's time that Hamas decide to either fight or take care of its population. It's unacceptable that people in Sderot are living in fear every day and people in the Gaza Strip are living life as usual."

Israel kept all crossings into Gaza closed Friday morning, meaning that about 20 trucks of food scheduled to pass during the day would not be allowed through, Dror said.

The crossings are routinely closed on Saturdays, and may not be opened on Sunday morning if the rocket fire continues, he said.

The UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, condemned the Israeli move.

"This can only lead to the deterioration of an already dire situation," said Christopher Gunness, an UNRWA spokesman, said.

The closure "can only lead to the further radicalization of a depressed and demoralized people".

Renewed raids

At the same, Israel is pushing ahead with its military offensive against fighters in both Gaza and the West Bank.

The Israeli military has particularly intensified its operations in Gaza, with at least 32 people killed during the past week.

At least 19 people were killed on Tuesday alone.

In response, Hamas has begun firing rockets at Israel for the first time in months.

Some 150 rockets and mortars have struck since Tuesday, the Israeli army said.

Fighter killed

In the latest Israeli operation, a Palestinian fighter was killed and four other people were wounded, medics and witnesses said on Friday morning.

The air raid came near the town of Jabaliya in the north of Gaza, they said.

It was not immediately clear to which group the man belonged, they said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed an air strike in northern Gaza, aimed "at a rocket-launching squad after they launched rockets into Israel".

Also on Friday, Israeli soldiers killed a fighter from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group loosely tied to Fatah, the party led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in the occupied West Bank, medical officials and the group said.

Undercover operation

The group confirmed one of its members was killed by undercover Israeli troops who were operating in the Balata refugee camp near the city of Nablus.

The Israeli army spokesman said they were looking into details of the incident.

The latest offensive comes amid a statement by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, on Thursday that his country was at "war" against fighters in the Gaza Strip.

He vowed to force Palestinian fighters to halt their rocket attacks.

"A war is going on in the south, every day, every night," he said.

"We cannot and will not tolerate this increasing fire at Israeli citizens ... so we will continue to operate, with wisdom and daring, with the maximum precision that will enable us to hit those who want to attack us."

Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said that residents of Gaza believe they are targeted no matter what they do, and that they are being subjected to indiscriminate attacks.

She said: "Even civilians are living in fear ... Bear in mind that Gaza has been closed from the rest of the world since June last year when Hamas took over Gaza.

"Now the Erez crossing - a small gateway in the northern Gaza Strip, through which aid supplies were delivered - is also closed, and is set to make conditions even worse for Gazans."

 PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli man looks at house hit by rocket in Sderot