Israel agreed to allow supplies of some fuel and medicine into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip today, easing for at least one day a blockade that plunged much of the territory into darkness and sparked international protests.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak's decision means the European Union will be able to deliver industrial fuel to Gaza's main power plant, which shut down yesterday. Israel closed the border on Friday in what it said was a bid to make Palestinian militants stop firing rockets into southern Israel.
Nearly half of Gaza's 1.5 million residents have lost electricity as hospitals cancelled surgery and local residents stockpiled essentials. The European Union and international agencies called the Israeli measures "collective punishment", which is banned under the Geneva Conventions.
Israel says that humanitarian conditions in Gaza did not reach crisis levels and that Hamas exaggerated the impact of the closure. It is unclear whether Barak will continue to allow fuel shipments and medical supplies into Gaza, which Hamas Islamists seized by force in June after routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli government officials said future shipments would hinge on regular assessments of Gaza's humanitarian needs and on the number of rockets fired by Palestinian militants into the Jewish state.
"We are not committing on how often we will do this," Defence Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said. In addition to 2.2 million litres of industrial fuel for the power plant, Israel will allow into Gaza 500,000 litres of diesel for generators and a supply of cooking gas, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.
It will also allow 50 trucks of food and medicine into Gaza, but restrictions on petrol for cars will remain in place, he said.