Israel declares Gaza "enemy entity" as Rice visits

By Jeffrey Heller and Sue Pleming

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel declared the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity" on Wednesday and said it would reduce its fuel and power supplies to the Hamas-run territory in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

Hamas described the move, during a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to prepare for a U.S.-led Middle East peace conference, as a declaration of war.

"They aim to starve our people and force them to bow and accept humiliating formulas that could emerge from the so-called November peace conference," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June after fighting the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has been preparing defenses against a possible Israeli offensive.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said his security cabinet approved the "enemy entity" classification and there would be "limitations on imports to the Gaza Strip and a reduction in the supply of fuel and electricity".

It gave no starting date for the sanctions and said they would be implemented after Israeli authorities had examined the legal and humanitarian ramifications.

"We are going to ask the Americans to pressure Israel to refrain from taking such action," Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Rice will meet Abbas on Thursday.

Asked about the Israeli move, Rice told a news conference that Washington considered Hamas to be a "hostile entity" but pledged the United States "would not abandon the innocent Palestinians", a reference to humanitarian aid.