Israel accepts limited exports to Gaza, after a truce, a month after the Gaza News

Israel has allowed the resumption of trade exports from the besieged Gaza Strip in what it called a “conditional” measure, a list of which the truce interrupted an 11-day attack.

“After the security assessment, the decision has been taken for the first time (since the end of the fight) … to allow limited exports of agricultural products from the Gaza Strip,” said COGAT, the Israeli Ministry of Defense office. on Monday.

COGAT said the measure was approved by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government and is “subject to safeguarding security stability”.

Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said 11 truck clothes were exported for the first time in 40 days through the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. On Sunday, Israel said it would accept limited agricultural exports from Gaza.

The calm also led to the resumption of the Gaza and foreign postal service, according to Palestinian Authority Relations Committee official Saleh al-Zeq. Thousands of passports and formalities have been delayed since Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, began fighting on May 10.

However, other restrictions imposed by Israel remain in place and are affecting different sectors of Gaza.

On Monday, a Pepsi packaging plant shut down and laid off 250 workers, saying raw materials were being kept away to continue the business. Instead, the company will import ready-made products from its factory in the occupied West Bank.

“Raw materials are not allowed. We have been waiting for them for 60 days, “said Hammam Alyazji, head of factory development. The materials include carbon dioxide and syrup.

The recovery of exports does not include fish, according to fishermen’s union Nezzar Ayyash. He said Israel had reduced fishing by more than half, maintaining six nautical miles (11 kilometers) instead of 20 miles (37 km), as agreed in the Oslo Accords.

“This is very bad for the lifestyle of the fishermen; purchasing power is low in Gaza and fishermen barely make up for fuel spending, ”he said.

Among other restrictions, the number of patients who can receive treatment in Israel or the occupied West Bank is limited.

The head of the Palestinian political movement Hamas on the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, spoke to reporters at a press conference in Gaza on June 21, 2021. [Mohammed Abed/ AFP]

‘No intention to resolve humanitarian crisis’

After a meeting with UN mediators, Yahas al-Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, said that easing Israeli restrictions was not enough and did nothing to change the situation in Gaza, and said Israel continued to block international aid, as well as critical fuel. necessary shipments of power plant.

“It was a bad meeting, it wasn’t positive at all,” he told reporters.

“They listened to us carefully, but there is no intention on the Gaza Strip to resolve the humanitarian crisis,” Sinwar added.

He added that Israel was “blackmailing” Hamas in exchange for further removal of the restrictions.

Apparently, Sinwar was referring to Israel’s stance that a major improvement in Gaza left it up to Hamas to release the bodies of two Israeli soldiers and two captive soldiers. Sinwar said the UN’s main regional representative, Tor Wennesland, had told Hamas “it would not accept this.”

Israel maintains tight control over the Gaza Strips with the help of neighboring Egypt, citing Hamas threats. Israel’s restrictions intensified in the May fighting, effectively halting all exports.

Sinwar also accused Israel of failing to save aid to Qatar, which has funded hundreds of millions of dollars in Gaza reconstruction projects in recent years.

“It seems that the occupation (Israel) did not understand our message, and perhaps we should put up popular resistance to put pressure on the occupation,” Sinwar said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has not commented on Sinwar’s remarks.

At a memorial service for Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 Gaza war, Bennett was sworn in last week and said Benjamin Netanyahu was a longtime deputy prime minister that Israel would not allow enemies to resume.

“(We) will not even accept some rockets. We will not show any resistance, nor any exercise in holding,” he said, referring to past attacks by non-Hamas armed groups.

“Our patience is exhausted.”

Egypt and the United Nations stepped up mediation last week after Israeli airstrikes explored the Gaza Strip, defying a fragile ceasefire.

The war killed 257 Palestinians, including 66 children. Thirteen people were killed in Israel, including two children.