JERUSALEM, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Israel informed the European Union on Monday it will allow resumption of fuel shipments to the sole power plant in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip starting on Tuesday, after blocking deliveries for a week, the EU said. Palestinian officials said the resumption would not come soon enough to prevent the plant running out of EU-funded fuel on Monday night, causing widespread blackouts. Israel said it halted shipments of the fuel to the power plant in response to a surge in cross-border rocket attacks from the coastal territory over the last week. Militants said they fired the rockets in response to an Israeli raid that killed six militants on Nov. 4, casting doubt on a ceasefire that took hold in June. "They (the Israeli army) informed us that fuel deliveries will resume tomorrow," said Alix de Mauny, a spokeswoman for the European Commission office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The EU's last shipment was made on Nov 4. The Israeli army had no immediate comment. A senior Palestinian official with the power station said a fuel shortage would force the plant to shut down on Monday night. He said 750,000 to 800,000 Palestinians who live in and around Gaza City would be affected. Gaza is home to 1.5 million. Deputy Israeli Defence Minister Matan Vilnai, speaking on Army Radio, described the blackout threat as Hamas "propaganda" and "nonsense", pointing to large quantities of diesel fuel being smuggled into the Gaza Strip through tunnels from Egypt. An EU official said the power plant was running "very low" on fuel and noted the facility used a special type of industrial fuel, not regular diesel. Israel tightened its economic and military cordon of the Gaza Strip when Hamas Islamists seized the territory in June 2007 after routing secular Fatah forces loyal to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas. Under the terms of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, Israel has loosened some restrictions on aid but humanitarian groups say conditions in the coastal enclave continue to deteriorate. According to Israeli and Palestinian officials, the local plant generates about a third of the electricity consumed by Gazans. The rest comes from Israel, which was continuing supply, and Egypt. (Reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Members of the Students Resistance Movement, which is made up of Egyptian university students, protest against the recent arrest of some of their members by the police in Cairo November 10, ...
Israel
