ON Wednesday the society of petrol stations, in the Gaza Strip appealed for an end to the ongoing fuel crisis in the coastal enclave as Israel continues to block adequate fuel shipments into the region.
Mahmoud aL-Khuzendar, the society’s deputy-chief, said today, that the fuel crisis persists and that large quantities of benzene and gasoline have been denied entry into Gaza.
‘ about 70,000 litres of benzene enter Gaza on weekly basis, only 5 percent of the Strip’s need. A large amount of this quantity goes to essential services like hospitals and ambulances. as every fuel station takes about 500 liters of benzene and that is absolutely not enough’, Al -Khuzendar told media.
As for the gasoline, AL-Khuzendar added,’ only 800,000 liters of such a fuel type are let in the coastal territory on weekly basis, as cooking gas quantities that enter on daily basis are estimated at 200 to 250 tons, while Gaza needs 300 tons’.
AL-Khuzendar appealed to world calling for intervention, to make Israel reverse its January decision to minimize fuel shipments from Israel into Gaza.
In September of last year, Israel declared Gaza a hostile entity and in October imposed a number of punitive measures, including cuts to fuel supplies. The Israeli high court of Justice endorsed
Israeli actions saying that they ‘do not pose harm to the civilian life’.
Israel says its actions against Gaza’s 1.5 million residents,to stop homemade shells being fired from the coastal region into nearby Israeli towns.
