Gaza fuel crisis continues; factories may shut down, Hamas refuses blame

From Ma'an:

The leader of the business community in the Gaza Strip warned on Sunday that dozens of factories are at risk of closure due to Gaza's fuel crisis.

Ali al-Hayik, the head of Gaza's Federation of Industries and the Palestinian Businessmen Association, called on the Hamas-led government to provide fuel to factories to avert an impending catastrophe for local industry.

The government must take responsibility for the crisis and is tasked with supporting the private sector, al-Hayik said in a press statement.

Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Friday blamed Egypt for not resolving the fuel shortage. The Hamas authorities and Egypt cannot agree on an official channel for fuel deliveries, after Egypt sought to cut off the tunnel network.

As I've been reporting for weeks, this is all because Hamas refuses to accept fuel that goes through Israel.

There is a fuel siege of Gaza, but not from Israel. Hamas is actively promoting it in order to push a political agenda. And Hamas has no qualms about causing every Gazan under its control to suffer in order to "win." The head of Gaza's energy authority confirmed this by saying that Egypt wanted to transfer fuel via Kerem Shalom and he personally refused to allow it to go through the "Zionist entity" and insisting that Egypt transfer the fuel through Rafah, which is not equipped to handle the half-million liters needed a day.

Hamas, trying to deflect anger about the fuel crisis, organized some "youths" to protest - at the (closed) Egyptian consulate in Gaza.