Fuel association says strike to continue in Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian fuel association rejected on Sunday a request by the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip to resume deliveries in the impoverished territory, officials said.

The association said it went on strike to protest Israeli supply limits and has prevented one million liters of diesel and petrol in tanks on the Gaza-side of the Nahal Oz border terminal from being delivered.

Israel has sharply cut back on the amount of fuel pumped into the Gaza Strip, which Hamas Islamists seized after routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June.

"We will continue to refuse taking the quantity of fuel, which is too little, unless we have clear guarantees Israel will increase the daily fuel supplies to Gaza," said Mahmoud al-Khuzundar, head of the Association of Petrol Station Owners in Gaza.

Israel has accused Hamas and the association of preventing those supplies from reaching U.N. aid agencies and ordinary Gazans. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) last week announced the suspension of operations, citing the shortage of fuel.

Israel said that attacks by Palestinian militants at border crossing have forced them to temporarily close crossings used to provide supplies to Gaza, home to 1.5 million people.

"We will not take one liter of fuel from Nahal Oz, neither to UNRWA or to anything else," Khuzundar said.

Members of the Hamas government met with the leaders of the fuel association on Sunday and asked them to resume deliveries.

A Hamas official said Israeli officials have told Egypt and the United Nations fuel supplies to Gaza would increase once the tanks are emptied.