ISRAEL/GAZA: Israel allows supplies into Gaza, Hamas threatens more attacks on Fatah in the West Bank

Record ID: 396278

  • Title: ISRAEL/GAZA: Israel allows supplies into Gaza, Hamas threatens more attacks on Fatah in the West Bank
  • Date: 17th June 2007
  • Summary: WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY HAMAS OFFICIALS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAMI ABU ZUHRI, HAMAS OFFICIAL, SAYING: "This is a harsh attack which is carried out by armed gangsters that operate with the knowledge and protection of the occupation. They operate under the name of al-Aqsa Brigades." REPORTER TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAMI ABU ZUHRI, HAMAS OFFICIAL, SAYING: "I am p
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAABOLEDKP9K6AGR22400APDYFJ
  • Story Text: Israel says will allow food and humanitarian supplies into Gaza, as residents of the impoverished strip rush to fuel their motors and buy basic supplies. Hamas blames Fatah militants for cooperating with Israel in attacking the Islamist movement. Israel said on Saturday (June 16) it will allow food and other basic supplies into the Gaza Strip to prevent humanitarian disaster, while Islamist Hamas continued to threat rival Fatah.
    "Our consideration is the humanitarian issue. Allowing merchandise through Karni in order to prevent hunger in Gaza is what will guide Israel to allow merchandise," Israeli Public Security minister Avi Dichter told Israel's CH.2 in a televised interview.
    Dichter said the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip should be treated as a "terror entity" and cut off its weapons supply.
    "Now Israel must change its policy towards Gaza and act by it," Dichter said in an interview near Jerusalem.
    Meanwhile the United States plans to lift a ban on direct aid to the emergency government that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is forming following Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip, U.S. Consul General Jacob Walles told Reuters.
    Abbas met Walles earlier on Saturday at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
    Gaza and the much larger West Bank are only about 45 km (30 miles) apart, with Israel in between, but they now appear poised to function as two separate territories.
    Hamas threatened to retaliate in the occupied West Bank against President Mahmoud Abbas's forces if they did not stop Fatah "terrorism" there against members of the Islamist group.
    Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said 150 Hamas supporters have been "abducted" in the occupied West Bank following Hamas's bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip.
    He sais the Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Martys Brigades group is cooperating with Israel to attack Hamas.
    "This is a harsh attack which is carried out by armed gangsters that operate with the knowledge and protection of the occupation. They operate under the name of al-Aqsa Brigades," Abu Zuhri told a press conference in Gaza City.
    Hundreds of Fatah supporters fled the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip by land and sea to seek refuge in the occupied West Bank.
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