The Egyptian cities near the border with the Gaza Strip are suffering through a severe fuel crisis, because of increased smuggling of gasoline and diesel to Gaza through tunnels stretching across the border, especially after the closure of Gaza's crossings with Israel since the beginning of this week.
There has been increased smuggling of fuel from the cities of El Arish and Rafah and Sheikh near the northern coast of the Strip in special containers, where they are transferred to Gaza through the tunnels to be sold exorbitant prices. This led to the disappearance of gasoline and diesel at fuel stations in the northern Sinai.
It is like the city of Arish residents have to stand for hours in front of gas stations in order to obtain only some of liters, which affected the traffic on the streets, leading to the disappearance of taxis and small buses transport.
The North Sinai Governorate authorities are trying hard to control the smuggling of fuel to Gaza. Governor Major General Mohammed Shusha has ordered the confiscation of any quantities of petrol and diesel packaged and ready for smuggling, dealing with the prohibition of fuel stations to sell fuel in such containers.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Gaza taking all of Egypt's fuel
Palestine Press Agency reports (autotranslated):