Palestinian children hold candles as they march during a demonstration against the Israeli fuel cut, in Gaza City. (AP)
GAZA,(Reuters) – Israel renewed fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, ending a week-long suspension of supplies that led to blackouts in the Hamas-controlled enclave where militants had launched cross-border rocket attacks.
But the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it would be forced to suspend food distribution to 750,000 Gazans on Thursday night unless Israel opened the Gaza Strip’s border crossings to humanitarian supplies.
UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said the agency’s warehouses were running out of wheat, meat, powdered milk and cooking oil.
About half of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents lost power on Monday when their sole power plant shut down, due to what Palestinian officials said was a lack of fuel.
Israel had blocked shipments of EU-funded fuel for a week in response to a surge in rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, who said they were responding to an Israeli raid that killed six gunmen on Nov. 4. The Israeli military said the raid was aimed at foiling plans by militants to infiltrate and seize soldiers.
The violence disrupted a ceasefire that began in June.
Palestinian workers said the first delivery for the power plant had been received at the Nahal Oz fuel depot.
A Palestinian boy crosses the road lit only by the headlamps of cars near the parliament building in the heart of Gaza City. (AP)
A Masked Palestinian student stands next burning tires in the village of Tuqu’a near the West Bank city of Bethlehem as Palestinians mark the fourth anniversary of their late leader Yasser Arafat’s death. (AFP)