Rockets were fired from Gaza into the Israeli city of Nahal Oz yesterday. Hamas leaders said that while they wanted to continue the five-month-old truce with Israel, it seemed that Israel did not, and if that was the case, Israel would pay the consequences. (Baz Ratner/Reuters) From Yahoo News/McClatchy:
JERUSALEM — Israel has pushed the Gaza Strip to the brink of a humanitarian crisis by cutting off the supply of most aid, choking off the flow of fuel for Gaza's only power plant and restricting the transfer of most supplies.
Beyond that, Israel is barring most diplomats, aid workers and international journalists from going into Gaza — an unprecedented and sweeping ban that's entering its third week.
"It's very precarious," John Ging , director of the United Nations refugee program in Gaza , said Friday. "It's really a matter of brinksmanship and we're in a perpetual state of collapse."
The new crackdown comes as Israeli leaders are increasingly acknowledging what critics have long argued: That they need to develop different strategies to try and change the political realities in Gaza .
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My Comment: With world now more focus on the financial crisis, Israel will now be pulling all the stops to force Hamas into a conflict that they cannot win. Expect a major escalation in rocket attacks against Israel in the next few weeks, and Israeli counter attacks to follow.