Gaza marches won’t be stopped for ‘diesel fuel and dollars,’ says Hamas leader
The leader of Palestinian movement Hamas says that the Gaza protests will not end in return for “diesel and dollars” after Israel cut deliveries into the enclave on Saturday.
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the group that has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, said the border rallies would continue until “the siege on Jerusalem, Al Aqsa and all the lands of Palestine is lifted”.
At least 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire on the marches, which began on March 30.
Israeli snipers have also maimed hundreds by shooting them in the legs to incapacitate them. About 150 Palestinians have been wounded.
“The strength of will and the determination of our people in the March of Return will lead to victory over the crimes of the occupation,” Mr Haniyeh said at the funerals for seven Gazans killed in Friday’s protests.
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that no fuel would be sent into the Gaza Strip while the protests continued.
Israel enforces an economic blockade on the strip, vetting everything that enters and leaves the territory through its land crossing. It also placed a naval blockade on Gaza’s coast. Egypt also has a land crossing with Gaza that has severe restrictions.
A deal brokered by the UN and backed by the US and others led to thousands of litres of fuel being taken by lorry into Gaza daily to increase its electricity supply. Residents have up to four hours of power a day.
At least six lorries have entered the Gaza Strip since Tuesday, bringing more than 200,000 litres of diesel, and there had been plans for it to reach 15 lorries a day.
But Israel stopped the deliveries days after the arrangement came into effect.
The deal was reached without the agreement of the Palestinian government in what diplomats said was a first for Gaza, which is controlled by the rival Palestinian faction Hamas. And it had also raised questions as to whether Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is slowly being sidelined.
The Palestinian Authority led by Mr Abbas has semi-autonomy in parts of the occupied West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in clashes in 2007.
The authority has long been the only negotiator approached by most countries but a senior official on Thursday declared that it would no longer work with the UN envoy who brokered the deal, Nikolay Mladenov.
Attempts were made to convince Mr Abbas to agree to the deal, but his refusal led to a decision to work around him.
The authority has been criticised for doing little to ease the suffering of Gazans over the past decade and the president has punished the strip to pressure Hamas.
Elsewhere in Palestine, an Arab woman was stoned to death by Israeli settlers who attacked her car with rocks.
Aisha Al Rawbi, 47, died near the West Bank city of Nablus from a head injury caused by a rock that shattered the glass of her car.
Her husband Aykube Al Rawbi, 52, said he was driving past a settlement late on Friday after dark and that he could not see who struck the car.
“The stones came from the side where the settlement is,” Mr Al Rawbi said. “I could hear the people speak Hebrew but I didn’t see them.”
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said: “Police arrived in the area and have opened an investigation.”
An Israeli court issued a gag order on details of the inquiry.