Israeli fuel company Dor Alon said Sunday it was cutting of fuel supplies to Gaza gas stations following the takeover of the territory by Hamas militants. But it said it would continue to ship fuel to Gaza's electricity power plant.
Residents said the move would halt all traffic in the coastal strip, whose 1.3 million residents already face shortages of food and other essential supplies. Shipments into the territory dried up with the outbreak last week of fighting between the rival Hamas and Fatah groups, which ended in Hamas' takeover of Gaza.
Asef Hamdi, a worker at a Gaza gas station, worried that what the end of the fuel shipments will mean for the territory.
"The results will be Gaza in full darkness, with no cars," he said. "In simple words ... welcome to the Taliban lifestyle".
A spokeswoman for Dor Alon, who said company rules forbade giving her name, said the halt in shipments to the gas stations would take effect immediately, but supplies to the power station would continue as usual because the European Union guarantees the payment for those supplies.
About 30 percent of Gazans, however, were cut off from the electric grid when infrastructure was damaged by the fighting, and they currently depend on generators, with their rapidly dwindling fuel supply. Repairs to power lines are being hampered by lack of spare parts, which are normally shipped through Israel.
Palestinian Health Ministry officials said they hoped that hospitals currently running on generators would be reconnected to the grid before their fuel reserves run out, but they said that in any event a gasoline drought would immobilize ambulances and prevent deliveries of blood, medicines and food to medical facilities.
Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said he had appealed to Israel and the international community not to cut off supplies to Gaza. "Residents must not be punished for the bloody coup staged by Hamas," he said.
Israeli military spokesman Shlomo Dror said Israeli authorities played no part in Dor Alon's decision and had no objection to humanitarian supplies crossing into Gaza, but the problem was that with the breakdown of civil authority there, Israel had no recognized party with whom to work.
"Hamas is running things, it's Hamas' responsibility," he said. "We are not interfering."
Israeli news Web-site Y-net said that the Gaza gas station trade was estimated as worth around US $120 million annually to Dor Alon.
(The Associated Press)