BICOM

Israel has imposed new restrictions on the Kerem Shalom border crossing, in an attempt to pressure Hamas to stop sending flying firebombs into Israel.

Despite sanctions imposed last week on the crossing for commercial goods, Hamas has continued to fire missiles and launch flying firebombs at Israeli communities, pushing the Israeli government to cut off fuel and gas supplies to the Gaza Strip until Sunday.

Yesterday, a missile was fired from Gaza toward Israel and landed in open space in the Ashkelon beach region. It followed an attack by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on two Hamas observation posts in Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, close to where Palestinians had gathered to launch flying firebombs earlier in the day, which caused up to 20 fires in Israel.

According to a Defence Ministry statement: “Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has decided, on the advice of the chief of staff, to close the Kerem Shalom crossing to fuel and gas until next Sunday … due to continued attempts to carry out terror by the Hamas terror organisation.”

It added: “Food and medicine will continue to be transferred and will be approved on an individual basis. Moreover, it has been decided to narrow the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip from a range of six nautical miles to three nautical miles.”

Hamas warned Israel of “dangerous consequences” over closing the border to oil and gas, “for which the occupation will bear full responsibility”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited residents of the Gaza border area for the first time in three months. He told regional council heads: “Just as we’re now completing the thwarting of the (terror) tunnels, and just as we acted against and succeeded in stopping the mass charge on the (Gaza border) fence, we’ve also instructed the IDF to eradicate and stop the incendiary kite and balloon terrorism.”

He added: “I’m proud of the wonderful residents of the border area, who are facing difficult days, but I’m convinced that with our shared strength to thwart and deter, we will eventually be able to defeat this terrorism from Gaza.”

In a separate development, Egypt announced yesterday that they were temporarily closing its border crossing with Gaza on Tuesday due to a technical malfunction. The Rafah crossing has been open since the start of Ramadan on 16 May.