Israel on Monday blocked the delivery of cement into the Gaza Strip, charging that the shipments were being diverted by Hamas, Ma’an reported. In a statement, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai accused Imad al-Baz, deputy director of Gaza’s Economy Ministry, of stealing construction materials. Mordechai declared that the import of cement into the Gaza Strip is suspended “until further notice.”
“This is a clear example of how Hamas continues to abuse and harm Gaza’s civil population to advance their own personal agenda,” the COGAT chief’s statement read.
COGAT has been accusing Hamas for some time, since the end of the 2014 Gaza war, practically, of appropriating materials intended for reconstruction, and diverting them to building terror tunnels reaching into Israel.
Al-Baz denied that Hamas was stealing cement from the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism.
The UN called for a speedy resolution of the issue, stressing how important it was for construction materials to reach construction sites where the city’s infrastructure and thousands of homes are still badly damaged.
“We are working closely with our Palestinian and Israeli government counterparts to assist in resolving the situation in order to prevent incidents that could lead to any future suspension of imports,” UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement, adding, “Those who seek to gain through the deviation of materials are stealing from their own people and adding to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.”
The UN reported last year that Gaza could become “uninhabitable” by 2020 if current trends continue.
Former MK Moshe Feiglin, among many others on the right, has been proposing to give Gazan Arabs generous handouts to encourage them to seek a better life in the New World.