Court approves Gaza fuel cutbacks

Gaza residents are bracing themselves for further hardships

The Supreme Court in Israel has ruled that the government can continue its cutbacks of fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip, but must delay electricity cuts.

Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups had challenged the move, calling it an illegal collective punishment.

The Israeli government argues the cutbacks are used as economic sanctions in retaliation for rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

The strip has been under the control of the Islamist movement Hamas since June.

"We are convinced that, for now, there is no need to issue a stay, especially as the (government) respondents undertook from the outset to ensure that the (fuel) reductions do not cause humanitarian harm," the Israeli Supreme Court wrote in its ruling.

Shortages

But the court said the state had to delay electricity cuts it had intended to implement from Sunday, because it did not offer enough details on the areas affected by the cuts.

More than two thirds of Gaza petrol stations have been closed

"We welcome the delay in electricity cuts and expect that at the end of the day the court will prevent the military from cutting electricity to Gaza, but we are concerned about the court's failure to intervene in the fuel cuts," Sari Bashi of Gisha, one of the groups which launched the appeal, told the Associated Press news agency.

Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniya said the court ruling was "dangerous" and aimed at "increasing the siege on Gaza".

Petroleum companies in Gaza announced they had stopped accepting fuel shipments in protest against Israeli cuts.

Mahmoud al-Shawa, head of the Gaza petroleum companies consortium, told AP more than 100 of the 150 petrol stations in the strip had already closed because of shortages.