GAZA, August 2, 2018 (WAFA) – The Israeli military authorities suspended on Thursday pumping of badly needed fuel and cooking gas into the besieged Gaza Strip through Karm Abu Salem/Kerem Shalom crossing in the southeast, according to Raed Fattouh, head of a presidential committee responsible for coordinating entry and exit of goods in the Gaza Strip.

He said that the Israeli authorities informed the committee, which is part of the Crossings and Borders Authority, that entry of fuel and cooking gas into Gaza has been suspended as of Thursday and until further notice.

The decision was made to punish the two million residents of the Gaza Strip, more than half of them children, allegedly for the firing of incendiary balloons into Israel that are causing fire in border fields.

Israel resumed pumping of fuel and entry of goods into Gaza on July 24 after it had shut down Karm Abu Salem commercial crossing for several weeks following border tension that ended with a truce agreement that allowed resumption of entry of fuel and goods.

International humanitarian organizations and the United Nations have warned of dire consequences as a result of the Israeli military sanctions and the suffocating blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza for the last 12 years.

M.K.