· Reuters cameraman dies in strike on press car
· Hamas defiant after Israeli supply restriction eases
At least 17 Palestinians, including a Reuters
television journalist, and three Israeli soldiers were killed in heavy
fighting across Gaza yesterday, the violence starting close to the
Nahal Oz fuel crossing, the sole supply line for fuel into the Strip.
The
Israeli military moved into Gaza after armed men were seen close to the
terminal. There was heavy fighting which led to the deaths of three
Israeli soldiers and at least four Hamas militants. Israeli troops,
using tanks and aircraft, then struck in several areas of the Gaza
Strip.
In one attack, at the Bureij refugee camp, at least
eight Palestinians died. In another strike in the same area the Reuters
cameraman, named as Fadal Shana, and two other Palestinian civilians,
were killed.
Reuters said Shana, 23, was stepping out of a
vehicle, marked “TV” and “Press”, when he was killed by an explosion.
Residents said the blast was an Israeli air strike. David Schlesinger,
editor-in-chief of the news agency, called for an investigation by the
Israeli military. “All governments and organisations have a
responsibility to take the utmost care to protect professionals trying
to do their jobs,” he said.
The Nahal Oz fuel crossing has been
the scene of recent fighting: last week two Israeli workers were killed
in an attack by Palestinian militants. Since then there have been a
series of Israeli military strikes. Last Friday nine Palestinians were
killed, including six civilians, according to the Palestinian Centre
for Human Rights.
The fighting near the terminal comes at a time
of fresh concern over fuel shortages in Gaza. Israel has cut the fuel
it supplies as part of the economic pressure on the Hamas-run
territory, which it now describes as a “hostile entity”. After the
attack at Nahal Oz last week Israel halted fuel supplies, though they
were restarted later yesterday.
On Tuesday, UN agencies voiced
concern about the fuel crisis in Gaza. Two universities have closed
because so few students were able to attend, and few drivers have found
enough petrol. The price of gasoline and diesel has surged on the black
market. The UN agencies said the limited fuel supplies were having a
“severe impact upon daily life for the population”.
The UN said:
“The situation is a threat to the health and wellbeing of the
population of the Gaza Strip, 56% of whom are children.” The
organisation said Israel supplied 3.8m litres of diesel and 340,000
litres of benzene to Gaza this March, down from 8.8m litres of diesel
and 1.7m litres of benzene in March last year.
The present fuel
crisis in Gaza has been complicated by the attacks by Palestinian
militants on the Nahal Oz fuel crossing and by a strike of the Gaza
Petrol and Gas Station Owners’ Association, whose members stopped
supplying fuel in protest at the reduced deliveries. Israeli officials
accuse Hamas of “staging an energy crisis” for propaganda purposes.
Hamas
sounded defiant after yesterday’s fighting. “This is a letter to the
Zionist enemy,” said Abu Obedia, a known Hamas spokesman. “We will be
the flaming rock upon which you will fall.”
A report last week
from an Israeli group called the Intelligence and Terrorism Information
Centre, which is close to the Israeli military, said Hamas was growing
stronger and that it now had a force of 20,000 armed men.