Gaza fuel depot remains closed for fourth day

JERUSALEM, April 13 (Reuters) - Israel kept a terminal that pumps fuel into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip closed for a fourth day on Sunday following an attack by militants, but officials said fuel tanks on the Palestinian side were already full.

Palestinian, Israeli and Western officials estimate that holding tanks on the Palestinian side of the Nahal Oz crossing currently contained 200,000 litres of gasoline and 800,000 litres of diesel. Western officials said that should be enough for roughly two days' supply.

Hamas said Israel was causing a fuel crisis in the territory, which it seized by force in June. Israel says the crisis is being created by Hamas because it is not allowing the fuel in the tanks to be distributed.

Palestinian fuel distributors have been on strike to protest limited Israeli supplies of gasoline and diesel.

Mahmoud al-Khuzundar, head of the Gaza Fuel Suppliers' Association, denied any Hamas role in the strike and said the association will not distribute fuel in the holding tanks until Israel increases the amount it supplies.

Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said the army was still evaluating last Wednesday's attack on the fuel depot at Nahal Oz, and would decide afterwards how to proceed.

Israeli and Western officials said even if Israel agreed to restart the flow of gasoline and diesel to Gaza, it will not be able to do so until fuel tanks on the Palestinian side have been emptied out.

"If they don't pump the fuel from the tanks for their use, we cannot operate the terminal normally and pump fuel," said Colonel Nir Press, an Israeli military official involved in overseeing Gaza's crossing.

A senior Western official who tracks fuel supplies to Gaza said: "There is nowhere to put more fuel."

Israel accuses Hamas of preventing distribution of the fuel in order to create a crisis to pressure Israel to ease its blockade of the territory. "They bite the hand that feeds them and then cry they don't have enough food," Dror said.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri countered that Israel was responsible for a crisis that has "almost paralysed all aspects of life".

Two Israeli civilians were killed by militants in last week's attack. Two Palestinian militants and two civilians were also killed when Israeli troops backed by tanks responded.

"The army is examining its ability to defend the people who bring the fuel to the crossing, and later this week they will decide if there are better solutions," Dror said.

"It is a question of days," Housing Minister Zeev Boim, asked how long the investigation would last, told reporters.

Hamas seized Gaza after routing forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in June, prompting Israel to tighten its cordon of the coastal territory, home to 1.5 million people.

Palestinian officials in Gaza said Nahal Oz's closure would force the territory's only power plant to be shut down, causing sweeping blackouts.

Officials with the European Union, which supplies fuel to the Gaza plant, said there should be enough fuel to last until Wednesday or Thursday. An EU official said that one truck, holding 45,000 litres of fuel, was delivered on Sunday.

In January, large parts of the Gaza Strip were blacked out when Palestinians shut down Gaza's main power plant after Israel temporarily blocked fuel supplies. Israel cited a surge in cross-border rocket attacks. (Reporting by Avida Landau, Adam Entous and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Alison Williams)