France on Monday "strongly condemned" the Israeli siege of the Gaza strip for perpetrating a "collective punishment" on a population "already quite affected."
"France strongly condemns the decision made by the Israeli government to conduct the siege on Gaza," Pascale Andreani, spokesman for the French foreign ministry said.
"We express our deep concern over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip," she added.
"France calls for the reopening of negotiations and the immediate resumption of delivering fuel in order to ensure electricity," the spokesman said.
France also reiterated its condemnation of all kinds of violence and urged Israel to end the continued military operations.
The main power station that supplies Gaza electricity completely stopped on Sunday night due to a fuel shortage.
Israel on Thursday decided to tighten its grip imposed on Gaza since mid June, when Hamas took control of the coastal strip. All crossings leading to Gaza have been closed.
Since Thursday, Israel has been barring fuel and basic food products from reaching the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for ongoing makeshift rocket attacks carried out by Palestinian militants from Gaza against Israel.
Source: Xinhua
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