After a day of flip-flopping on the subject, the Ministry of Defense supplied details of the new sanctions against Hamas-controlled Gaza, through leaks to major news sources.
According to Maa'riv/NRG, gasoline supplies to Gaza were cut by 15%, though diesel and fuel oil (mazut) continue uninterrupted. This means that power stations, ambulances and trucks will not be affected, and no humanitarian problem will result. TV Channel 2 said 5% will be cut from the diesel and fuel oil supply and 11% from the gasoline supply.
In addition to the fuel cut, the Sufa crossing into Gaza was closed. As a result, 50, instead of 120, trucks will enter Gaza daily. Defense sources told Maariv/NRG that the supply of medicine and food will not be affected, but "nonessential" supplies like tobacco, sweets and other products will be.
A senior European Union official said earlier in the day that no cuts in supplies to Gaza had been implemented.
The unnamed official, who oversees the program that pays for the fuel supplied to the Gaza power plant, and supervises each delivery, was quoted by Ynet as saying, "The plant received the full amount for today… It was delivered."
Leftists petition
The High Court heard a petition by human rights organizations Sunday against the plans to cut the supply of fuel and electricity to Gaza in response to rocket attacks against Israel.
The court ordered the state to respond to the petition in five days' time.
This weekend, the extremist-left Peace Now organization wrote a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, saying: “We believe this to be an illegal, immoral act of collective punishment." The group said that cutting off electricity will not halt the firing of terror rockets, but instead raise the level of hatred of Israel among Gaza Arabs and give them even more incentive to fire the rockets.
'We have no alternative'
Last week, a committee headed by Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai recommended that electricity supplied by Israel be cut off to northern Gaza during certain evening and nighttime hours. The cuts would affect the city of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza and its environs, from which most of the terror rockets are fired. The committee also recommended cutting down Israel's supply of fuel and goods to Gaza.
"We have no alternative other than to employ these measures," Deputy Minister Vilnai explained Thursday on Army Radio. "The situation cannot continue in which we supply the Palestinians with all their needs as usual while they fire at us. Gaza is a hostile entity, and this is a gradual disengagement."
Some 62.5 percent of Gaza's electricity, and all of Gaza's fuel, including diesel, gasoline and natural gas, comes from Israel. Another 28.6 percent of Gaza's electricity comes from Gaza's power plant, which depends on Israeli fuel. The remainder of the electricity comes from Egypt.