Israel briefly reopened the Karni crossing on Monday to let humanitarian aid into the impoverished Gaza Strip, but closed it just minutes later, Palestinian security officials said. It was not clear when the crossing would reopen.
The army said Karni was shut down following a security alert.
Karni, the main cargo crossing into Gaza, has been closed for much of the past two months because of Israeli security concerns, leading to shortages of food and other goods in Gaza.
Israel opened the crossing for 25 minutes on Monday, allowing only Diet Coke, tea, potato chips, chocolate, and 9 tonnes of wheat to enter Gaza, before closing it again, according to Palestinian security officials. The amounts were tiny compared with the needs of 1.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, they said.
Because Israel is still concerned about attacks at the crossing, Karni would only be opened for goods entering Gaza from Israel, Israeli military officials said.
The UN World Food Program said on Monday that it has appealed to Israeli authorities to allow food deliveries to reach tens of thousands of people in Gaza who depend on food aid to survive. The Rome-based organization also said it called on the Palestinian Authority to "take all necessary steps to ensure the security" of the organization's staff and other humanitarian aid workers.
The World Food Program provides food aid to some 160,000 people in the Gaza Strip.
The decision by Israeli defense officials to close Karni again so soon after it was reopened appeared to have opened a rift between interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Israeli political sources said.
They said Olmert had ordered Karni to be opened after he was unconvinced that the security alert justified its closure and he was unhappy with Mofaz's emphasis on security concerns, because of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Palestinians have reported shortages of bread and other staples in Gaza because of the closure of Karni, which handles most goods traffic with the Jewish state.
Moving a step closer to taking office, the Islamic militant group Hamas appointed loyalists to most positions in the new Palestinian Cabinet.
Israel and the US have tried to isolate Hamas and the new government. The EU said it did not want to go "soft on principles," but added it would leave the door open for Hamas to change its stance on Israel.
Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction, a position it has maintained despite foreign pressure and threats to cut aid vital to keeping the Palestinian economy afloat.
Salim Abu Safiya, the Palestinian security chief for crossings into Gaza, said Karni was supposed to open again yesterday.
"But after what happened today I can't trust the Israeli promises any more," Abu Safiya said.
"The Israelis need to stop using this silly method and these silly alerts ... It's a drop in the sea of the needs for Gaza," he told reporters, referring to the shortages in Gaza.
An Israeli army spokesman said that, because Palestinian suicide attackers and smuggled weapons had passed through Karni in the past, Israel was forced to be cautious.
"In light of this, we would like to stress that we take any security alerts at Karni very seriously," he said.
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