Israel allows cooking gas into Gaza

Israeli authorities today allowed limited amounts of cooking gas and diesel into the Gaza Strip in an exceptional, one day opening of the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Israel and Gaza.

The General Director of the Petroleum Committee in Gaza, Khalil Shuqba, told Ma’an that some 100 tonnes of cooking gas and 300,000 litres of diesel entered the besieged coastal enclave, noting that the diesel would be sent to Gaza’s main power station.

Director-General of the Public Administration of the Crossing Points and Borders in Gaza, Nazmi Muhanna, announced the opening of the crossing yesterday.

Karm Abu Salem is one of two operating Israeli crossings out of the blockaded coastal enclave, dedicated primarily to the movement of goods and the only crossing available for the import of fuel.

Pedestrians moving in and out of the Gaza Strip travel through the Erez crossing, which is closed to the majority of the Gaza’s residents.

The majority of the more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are sealed inside the coastal enclave due to a near-decade long military blockade imposed by Israel and upheld by Egypt on the southern border.