Gaza lights up as Israel eases fuel blockade

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel resumed fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip's main power plant on Tuesday, offering limited respite from a blockade that had plunged much of the Hamas-ruled territory into darkness and touched off international protests.

Only 13 truckloads of food and medicine entered Gaza on Tuesday, short of the 50 Israel had agreed to, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said the rest would cross in the coming days.

At the United Nations in New York, Israeli and Palestinian envoys traded accusations of blame in the Security Council for the recent wave of violence in Gaza, which threatens to torpedo a fragile Middle East peace process.

In Israel, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told a security and policy conference near Tel Aviv: "Israel will continue to fulfil its obligations to its citizens even at the price of censure."

John Ging, who heads the leading U.N. aid agency in Gaza, said Israel's decision to let some supplies into the coastal strip was a first step but would not be sufficient to head off a humanitarian disaster.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier she had voiced her concerns to Israel, which has argued that sealing the borders could make the Palestinians stop rocket salvoes being fired into its territory from Gaza.

"Nobody wants innocent Gazans to suffer and so we have spoken to the Israelis about the importance of not allowing a humanitarian crisis to unfold there," Rice told reporters travelling with her to Berlin.

In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would press ahead with peace talks with Israel but "continue in our efforts to see this siege fully lifted".