Israel announces the closure of a single crossing with Gaza

The Israeli army announced today the closing of the only crossing point of goods between Israel and the Gaza Strip in response to the incendiary parrots launched since the enclave.

Since March 30, Palestinians have staged several demonstrations on Israel's Gaza Strip fence to denounce the Israeli blockade that has lasted for more than 10 years and demand Palestinians' right to return to Palestinian lands. where they fled or were expelled because of the creation of Israel in 1948.

"In response to Hamas's ongoing terrorist attacks, which exploits and endangers the people of Gaza, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman have decided to end the crossing of Kerem Shalom today, "said the army in a statement.

While confirming the immediate closure of the passage, Netanyahu told parliament that Israel was preparing to "take further steps to fight Hamas," an Islamist movement that leads the enclave without elaborating.

Israeli authorities are fighting to eliminate the wave of fires caused by balloons and parrots, which have become the symbol of Palestinian mobilization since the end of March. "There were about 750 fires that burned 26,000 dunums (2,600 hectares) in a hundred days," said the spokesman for Israeli firefighters at AFP.

This estimates "in several million shekels" (1 shekel equals 0.23 euros) the amount of wear, a hundred advance a more accurate number. The closure of the crossing will exacerbate the already precarious humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been under severe Israeli blockade for more than a decade and where more than 80 per cent of the population depend on external assistance after the Bank. World.

The Israeli army added that the Kerem Shalom crossing would only be open to humanitarian needs.
On the other hand, the Israeli army added that the fishing zone of the Gaza Strip, which has been extended to nine nautical miles (17 kilometers) since May, will be reduced again to six thousand.

The Israeli-Palestinian Oslo agreements, signed in 1993, provided for a fishing zone up to 20 nautical miles from the coast. But Israel has reduced it many times.