Israel wants to cut its links with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after militants blasted open the territory's border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade, Israel's deputy defense minister said yesterday.
Israel, which occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, pulled troops and settlers out in 2005 but still controls its northern and eastern borders, airspace and coastal waters, and has imposed a blockade it says is meant to counter militant rocket fire.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Israel wanted to wash its hands of Gaza altogether by handing over the supply of electricity, water and medicine to others. An Israeli security official said Egypt should take over responsibility.
"We need to understand that when Gaza is open to the other side we lose responsibility for it. So we want to disconnect from it," Vilnai said.
A spokesman for Hamas, which seized control of Gaza after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces in June, said Israel was not exempt from responsibility "since the Gaza Strip is still an occupied land."
An aide to Abbas said the Israeli idea could be aimed at permanently severing Gaza from the occupied West Bank, the other territory Palestinians seek for an eventual state.
After the southern border wall was destroyed on Wednesday, hundreds of Palestinians continued to shuttle back and forth across the border yesterday.
A Hamas spokesman said the Islamist group had paid 16,000 government employees early, and paid an aid stipend to 8,500 farmers so they could go shopping.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri urged Arab nations to step up aid to Gaza as long as Israel, which has allowed some fuel into the territory but still blocks most goods, maintained its blockade.
Market stalls in Gaza City that were half empty earlier this week were piled high with goods while prices that had shot higher due to shortages eased back.
An Israeli security official said Israel wanted Egypt to supply Gaza's utilities and act as a base for aid organizations serving the territory, adding the government was working on proposals to shift responsibility to Cairo.
Source: China Daily/Xinhua
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