Gazans fear worst after Israeli threat to cut supplies
GAZA CITY (AFP) — Gazans braced for the worst on Thursday after Israel branded the territory a "hostile entity" in a move that paved the way for cuts to basic supplies and drew widespread international criticism.
"I've started stocking fuel to be able to work if Israel interrupts supplies," said Nidal Eslim, a 33-year-old father of seven who runs a taxi service that provides his sole source of income. "You have to live somehow."
Throughout the impoverished coastal strip -- which with 1.5 million residents is one of the world's most densely populated places -- people were buying up food, water and fuel.
"It's the best thing to do to prepare ourselves for the coming days," said Rima, one of the women who rushed to buy up drinking water.
Israel insisted it had no choice but to take the action in the face of persistent rocket fire from the territory since Islamic militant group Hamas took over in mid-June.
But Palestinians accused Israel of resorting to collective punishment against the civilian population and the United Nations reminded the Jewish state of its humanitarian obligations to the territory under international law.
"They want to destroy the Gaza Strip under the pretext of wanting to destroy Hamas," said Gaza resident Ayman Abu Assi, 23. "But what more can they do? We don't know what to do and we leave ourselves in God's hands."
Nearly completely sealed off from the outside world by Israel since Hamas seized power three months ago, Gaza's population is already reeling under the combined effects of Israeli strikes and a Western freeze on direct aid.
The United Nations, which runs an array of basic services for the territory's large refugee population, called on Israel not to go ahead with its threatened cuts to fuel, power and food supplies.
Cutting supplies "would be contrary to Israel's obligations towards the civilian population under international humanitarian and human rights law," UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned on Wednesday.
The European Union backed the UN call on Thursday. "We are making the same appeal as the UN secretary general for Israel to reverse this decision," said a spokeswoman for its foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned the Israeli decision as an "arbitrary decision" that will "aggravate" Gazans' suffering, while Hamas blasted the move as "collective punishment."
Announcing its decision on Wednesday, the Israeli security cabinet promised not to aggravate the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
It said the decision to designate the territory a "hostile entity" was a necessary response to militant rocket fire that would pave the way for cuts in basic supplies and new restrictions on the movement of people and goods.
"There is an illogical situation where we supply the petrol with which they manufacture the rocket launchers, the electricity to manufacture them," the defence ministry's chief political officer Amos Gilad said.
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, who was in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, declined to condemn the Israeli move, although she made a distinction between Gaza's civilians and its Hamas masters.
"Hamas is indeed a hostile entity. It is a hostile entity to the United States as well," she said.
New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch acknowledged that Israel had a duty to protect its own population but stressed it could not do so at the expense of the civilians of Gaza.
"Israel has the responsibility to protect its citizens, but not by collectively punishing the people of Gaza, which seriously violates the laws of war," it said.
Medics in Gaza warned that any move by Israel to complete its blockade of the territory was likely to lead to civilian deaths.
"In case of an offensive or a total blockade, thousands of the sick suffering from cancer or kidney failure will be in danger of dying," said Dr. Muawiya Hassanin, the director of emergency services with the health ministry.
