An urgent call was issued jointly Tuesday by Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups who are calling for an end to restrictions on Gaza’s fuel supply — and to the “unprecedented harm being caused to Gaza’s humanitarian needs”.
The groups, in their joint statement, expressed “concern and outrage at the systematic dismantling of the Gaza Strip’s vital systems”.
They called for an immediate end by Israel — the occupying power – to the six-month long military-ordered restrictions on fuel supply that have paralyzed Gaza’s infrastructure and endangered the health and well-being of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.
The fuel cuts have drained reserves and left essential systems vulnerable to supply interruptions, the statement explained.
Meanwhile, Haaretz newspaper reports that Israel is somehow trying to block criticism by international donors and/or the Quartet in meetings scheduled in London on the 1st and 2nd of May.
Haaretz notes that Egypt also made a complaint a few days ago to both the UN Security Council and to the Quartet describing “a dangerously explosive situation in the Gaza Strip”. The Egyptian complaint apparently also expressed concern that “an explosion in the Gaza Strip would result in a serious escalation in the region’.”
The Israeli military exerts total control on all entry and exit of people and goods to and from Gaza. Fuel can enter only through a complex fuel transfer system at Nahal Oz crossing.
“Since an attack on the Nahal Oz crossing on 9 April that killed two civilians, Israel has restricted fuel supplies to levels far below even the minimum, insufficient levels promised to the Supreme Court. It has transferred no diesel or petrol supply and just 1/3 of the industrial diesel needed for Gaza’s power plant”, the statement by the human rights groups explained.
Due to the shortage of fuel, the Gaza power plant reduced its output to only 40 MW of electricity. It had been producing 55 MW daily earlier in April, and 65 MW a day before the fuel cuts began on 28 October. It is capable, now, of producing 80 MW of electricity daily, if only it had enough fuel.
The statement notes that two days before the deadly attack on Nahal Oz, on 7 April, “Gaza’s petroleum company owners began striking, refusing to deliver the minimal quantities of petrol and diesel on the Palestinian side of Nahal Oz”.
Reuters reported Monday that Hamas is now pleading with the Association for Petroleum Companies in Gaza to release the fuel that is blocked in storage in Nahal Oz.
Sari Bashi, executive director of the Israeli human rights organization Gisha, who has led the court battle and co-authored Tuesday’s statement, said in an interview on Tuesday that “Certainly the strike intensifies the shortage of fuel in Gaza, but the main problem is that Israel is restricting the quantities it permits in”.
“We note that the fuel shortages were manufactured by Israel’s policy of closures, and of depriving the people of Gaza of the fuel needed for daily life”, Bashi added. “We’re very concerned about the effects of the fuel restrictions on the residents of Gaza”.
Bashi said that the Israeli military has replied via the State Attorney to Gisha’s questions about the urgent need for delivery of all types of fuel to Gaza, acknowledging that only 1 million liters of fuel per week have been permitted into Gaza for the power plant – because there have been attacks at the crossings, according to the IDF.
The military did not indicate that it was backing down from its commitment to Israel’s Supreme Court to deliver a minimum of 2.2 million liters of fuel per week for Gaza’s vital power plant, Bashi said.
Instead, the military explained that it is interpreting this commitment as being subject to conditions on the ground which can justify further reductions in fuel to Gaza, Bashi said.
The military wrote that “The State is permitted to take the necessary steps to defend the soldiers and citizens of Israel, including closing the crossings into Gaza, even if that means a de facto reduction of the quantities of fuel that are delivered”.
But, Bashi said, “We are asking why, if they can pump some fuel in, why can’t they pump more”?
Bashi says the military reported that 300 tons of cooking gas were delivered today (Tuesday), UNRWA took some 55,000 liters of regular diesel fuel – and, according to the Israeli the military, Hamas took 22,000 liters of diesel and 22,000 liters of gasoline/benzene used for transportation.
The Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday that Hamas gunmen on Tuesday stole fuel from the Palestinian side of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. According to the Jerusalem Post, “Mojahed Salam[a], head of the Palestinian Authority’s gas agency, told Israel Radio that that his workers were threatened at gunpoint and that he told them obey the orders of the armed men so they wouldn’t get hurt. ‘They took control of the fuel and fired toward the terminal in order to torpedo the flow of fuel to the Strip and to pressure Egypt into reopening the Rafah border crossing’, said Salam[a].
[Actually, the Jerusalem Post story said that Hamas stole fuel that was destined for the Gaza power plant — but that is industrial diesel fuel that simply cannot be used instead of regular diesel for transport or to power stand-by generators.]
The regular diesel fuel and the gasoline/benzene is ordered through the Palestinian Authority, and payment is channeled through the PA as well. The industrial diesel fuel used only for the power plant is ordered by the PA, but paid for by the European Union, and is handled separately.
Nine Israeli and Palestinian organizations signed Tuesday’s urgent call for a lifting of fuel restrictions – one fewer than the number who had unsuccessfully petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to block the fuel cuts. The Galilee-based Israeli-Arab organization ADALAH did not join in today’s statement. An Adalah official explained that they could not sign because their mandate, as a human rights organization, is only to address state parties, but not non-state actors.
Tuesday’s statement was addressed both to Israel and to “armed groups in Gaza”.
The nine groups who endorsed the statement said, jointly: “We emphasize Israel’s obligation as the primary duty bearer under the law of occupation to ensure the humane treatment of the civilian population, including with respect to the provision of fuel to the Gaza Strip, ensuring the maintenance of hospitals, public health services and food and medical supplies and refraining from rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population”.
The fuel is needed to generate electricity, power hospitals, run transportation, pump water and sewage, and provide for basic social and economic needs, the statement said.
The statement called on “armed groups in Gaza to refrain from attacking civilians, including at the crossings that channel fuel, food, and other goods into the Gaza Strip”, and it also called on Israel “to refrain from attacking civilians and depriving them of basic rights and needs”.
“Acts of reprisals and collective penalties against civilians are unjustified and could be considered war crimes that must be investigated and stopped”, the statement said. The groups also called on “all parties to respect their obligations under human rights and humanitarian law, especially the obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants”.