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Israelis close all border crossings into Gaza Strip

Israel's defense minister has ordered all border crossings into Gaza closed, defense officials said yesterday, further slashing the flow of vital supplies into the besieged territory as Israeli towns near Gaza continue to reel under Palestinian rocket barrages.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's decision is meant to pressure the Hamas rulers of the coastal territory to halt rocket fire at southern Israel, ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said.

Israel kept all crossings into Gaza closed yesterday morning, meaning that about 20 trucks of food scheduled to pass during the day would not be allowed through, Dror said. The crossings are routinely closed on Saturdays and may not be opened on Sunday morning if the rocket fire continues, he said.

"It's time that Hamas decide to either fight or take care of its population," Dror said. "It's unacceptable that people in [the southern Israeli town of] Sderot are living in fear every day and people in the Gaza Strip are living life as usual."

The UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, condemned the Israeli move.

"This can only lead to the deterioration of an already dire situation,"said UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness. The closure of the crossings, he said, "can only lead to the further radicalization of a depressed and demoralized people."

UNRWA's leading official in Gaza, John Ging, said Israel had informed his office that the crossings would be closed for a few days. On a regular working day an average of 120 trucks of food and humanitarian supplies enter Gaza, Ging said.

The Israeli decision was sparked by an escalation of rocket fire following an Israeli anti-rocket raid in Gaza on Tuesday in which 19 Palestinians were killed, including the militant son of a prominent Hamas leader.

The violence persisted yesterday, with four rockets falling in Israel, including one that hit the town of Ashkelon. In Sderot, the southern Israeli town that is the preferred target for Gaza militants, one rocket fell near a daycare center, damaging the building. No injuries were reported.

In retaliation, Israeli aircraft fired on rocket launchers in northern Gaza, killing two Palestinians, Hamas said. One was a Hamas militant who had just fired rockets and the other was a 17-year-old civilian, apparently a curious onlooker, Hamas security officials said.

Israel's army confirmed the airstrike.

The tightening of the blockade on Gaza could make life more difficult for the territory's already impoverished residents. Palestinians there have had to live with erratic supplies of food and basic products like spare car parts and computer paper since Israel imposed a siege after the militant Hamas group came to power in June. Israeli fuel supplies to Gaza have also been cut back.

Dror said that Gazans had enough food so that no one would go hungry.

``There is a government decision that there will not be a humanitarian crisis in Gaza,'' Dror said.

Israeli officials will meet early next week to reevaluate the situation and decide whether to reopen the crossings, he said.

Even if meat supplies were cut off, about 9,000 cows have been allowed into the Gaza Strip in the past two months, enough for several weeks more, Dror said.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said Barak's decision was "part of the ongoing Israeli escalation and aggression policy against our people."

The Israeli Defense Ministry said only "humanitarian cases" which receive Barak's personal approval will be allowed through.

"If milk is low in Gaza, the minister will be asked to approve a milk shipment and it will enter," a defense ministry spokesman said.
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