Officials: Israel cannot supply more fuel because Nahal Oz tankers full; Hamas uses fuel for terror ops.
By YAAKOV KATZNahal Oz op(photo credit: AP)
While Israel will renew the supply of industrial diesel fuel for Gaza's sole power plant, it will not transfer gasoline for transportation since, defense officials said on Tuesday, Hamas is hoarding gas for terrorist operations but does not share the fuel with the public.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to renew the supply of diesel for the Gazan power plant starting on Wednesday. The fuel supplies were stopped last Wednesday after Gazan terrorists killed two Dor Alon fuel company employees at the Nahal Oz fuel depot located at the Nahal Oz crossing to the northern Gaza Strip.
Officials said that while Palestinians were complaining about shortages of gasoline for cars, the tankers at Nahal Oz were full since the Palestinians had refused to draw gasoline Israel transferred there in the week leading up to the attack.
Even if Israel wanted to transfer more gasoline, the officials said, it wouldn't be able to since the tankers at Nahal Oz were already full.
The official said Barak decided to renew the industrial diesel supply since otherwise the generating plant would shut down by the end of the week and Israel would be blamed internationally for blacking out Gaza.
"There is a cynical use here of the gas situation by Hamas," a senior defense official said. "Hamas has its own stockpiles that it doesn't share with the public and uses for its own purposes."
Meanwhile, an IAF aircraft fired a missile late Tuesday at a motorcycle in northern Gaza, killing a local Islamic Jihad commander, Palestinians said.
The group said the dead man was Muhammad Ghausain, its commander in northern Gaza.
The IDF confirmed it had carried out the attack.
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