Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Israel wants to sever connections with Gaza -official
24 Jan 2008 07:22:00 GMT
 Source: Reuters
A Palestinian gunman shouts as heavy equipment destroys a section of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, January 23, 2008.
Previous | Next
A Palestinian gunman shouts as heavy equipment destroys a section of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, January 23, 2008.
REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Background

•  Israeli-Palestinian conflict

MORE >>
JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Israel would like to sever its remaining connections with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after militants blasted open the territory's border with Egypt, a top Israeli defence official said on Thursday.

"We need to understand that when Gaza is open to the other side we lose responsibility for it. So we want to disconnect from it," deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio.

He said Israel, which occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, began to disengage from the territory in 2005 by pulling troops and settlers out. The Jewish state still controls Gaza's northern and eastern borders as well as its airspace and coastal waters.

Egyptian forces are posted along Gaza's southern border, where militants set off bombs on Wednesday destroying the border wall, allowing tens of thousands of Palestinians to pour through to stock up on goods in short supply due to an Israeli blockade.

Vilnai said Israel's effort to disengage from Gaza "continues in that we want to stop supplying electricity to them, stop supplying them with water and medicine, so that it would come from another place."

"We are responsible for it as long as there is no alternative," Vilnai said. Israel says it has tightened its cordon around the Gaza Strip to prevent cross-border rocket attacks that have sown panic in southern Israel. (Editing by Sami Aboudi)


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Emergencies

•  Israeli-Palestinian conflict

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  "31,000 Hurricane Katrina Victims Still Living in FEMA Trailers", Robert Sharp, UMCOR
IRT - USA

•  CHRISTIAN AID CONDEMNS ISRAEL'S BLOCKADE OF GAZA
Christian Aid - UK

•  The UMCOR Hotline for January 22, 2007
UMCOR - USA

•  Gaza Situation Statement
WV MEERO - Cyprus

•  Supply shortages in the Gaza Strip
SOS-Kinderdorf International

MORE >>

Latest news

•  Israel wants to cut its Gaza links, official says

•  Pakistani forces battle militants, dozens killed

•  Police chief killed in new blast in Iraq's Mosul

•  FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, Jan 24

•  RPT-ANALYSIS-Hamas exposes Israeli weakness in Gaza

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Related articles

Breaking stories
Israel wants to cut its Gaza links, official says (1 minute ago)

Pakistani forces battle militants, dozens killed (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
How do you persuade a soldier not to kill civilians? (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
"31,000 Hurricane Katrina Victims Still Living in FEMA Trailers", Robert Sharp, UMCOR (1 minute ago)

Blogs
US warns citizens to keep clear of Guantanamo protests (1 minute ago)

Maps
MAP: California wildfires (1 minute ago)


Country information

Briefings
Israeli-Palestinian conflict - [Who works where]

Facts & figures
Egypt Israel Palestinian territories United States of America
Statistics graphs
Human development index ranking (2005)
Chart for Human development index ranking
View more stats

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-23T161428Z_01_GOT08_RTRIDSP_2_EGYPT_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/GOT08.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-23T161142Z_01_GOT07_RTRIDSP_2_EGYPT_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/GOT07.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-23T161033Z_01_GOT05_RTRIDSP_2_EGYPT_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/GOT05.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-23T160916Z_01_GOT04_RTRIDSP_2_EGYPT_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/GOT04.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-23T160736Z_01_GOT01_RTRIDSP_2_EGYPT_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/GOT01.htm

Egyptian riot police walk past an Egyptian woman during a protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza, in Cairo, January 23, 2008.Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt from the ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Thu Jan 24 10:31:36 2008