24 July 2018•Update: 24 July 2018
By Abdel Raouf Arnaout
JERUSALEM
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday decided to partially reopen the Kerem Shalom border crossing – Gaza’s only commercial crossing – by mid-Wednesday.
The decision would allow fuel, gas, food and medicine to be allowed into the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The Israeli Broadcast Authority blamed Hamas for the partial reopening of the terminal, saying the Palestinian group has failed to stop what it described as its “terrorist activity completely”.
On July 9, Israel closed the crossing to all goods except food and medicine. And on July 16, Israel reduced the fishing area to six maritime miles as part of a raft of sanctions imposed by Tel Aviv on Gaza in retaliation for incendiary kite and balloon attacks by Palestinian activists near the Gaza-Israel security fence.
Last week, Israel and Palestinian resistance factions reached a cease-fire deal following an escalation in the blockaded Palestinian territory.
Since March, more than 140 Palestinians have been martyred – and thousands more injured – by Israeli army fire during protests against the decades-long Israeli occupation and an 11-year blockade, which has gutted the Gaza economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of basic commodities.
