Finally, Mohamed Abu Ghali, a 25-year-old Palestinian resident in Rafah town of southern Gaza Strip, drives his Chinese-made motorcycle onto the roads as Israel allows more fuels into the Gaza Strip.
Abu Ghali purchased his motorcycle in the Egyptian city of al-Arish in January, when tens of thousands Gazans breached the border fences between Gaza and Egypt to buy daily necessities which were in urgent need due to Israel's tightened blockade on the enclave for months.
"After I bought my motorcycle, I can't drive it because there was a severe lack of fuels in Gaza," said Abu Ghali. "Some amounts of fuels were smuggled from Egypt through tunnels underground the borders, but I couldn't afford to buy it because it was very expensive."
After Islamic Hamas movement took control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June last year and routed security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel closed down all crossings of Gaza, home to nearly 1.5 million residents heavily depending on outside aid inflow of almost everything.
As Gaza militant groups launched homemade rockets against southern Israel, the Jewish state termed the enclave as "a hostile entity and gradually reduced the amounts of fuels into the over-crowded strip.
Reduction of fuels, among others, affected traffic movement in Gaza, stripping most vehicles off the streets for several months.
Throngs of vehicles start to turn up in Gaza main streets, thanks to increased amounts of fuels flow into the Gaza Strip in recent days, and Hamas traffic policemen are seen busy guiding the traffic.
Ahmed Bassam, a 31 year-old Gaza city taxi driver, said before the fuels crisis in Gaza, the prices of gasoline and diesel were acceptable. One liter of gasoline used to be sold at Gaza gas stations for 6 Israeli shekels (1.8 U.S. dollars).
"When the fuels crisis mounted, one liter of gasoline, if founded, was sold at 40 Israeli shekels," said Bassam, but "after the Tahdi'a (truce) was reached a month ago, the price of gasoline and diesel dropped."
"After Israel eased the restrictions and allowed more amounts of fuels into Gaza, now I can buy one liter of gasoline to my taxi for 12 Israeli shekels," he added.
Israel and Gaza militant groups reached an unwritten truce deal brokered by Egypt on June 19, under which Gaza militants stop rockets attacks on Israel, while Israel eases restrictions imposed on the movement of goods and fuels at Gaza border crossings.
After the truce came into force, Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip since June 2007, has complained to the mediator that Israel did not allow the movement of goods and fuels into Gaza as stipulated.
The amounts of fuels allowed into the Gaza Strip after the truce increased compared to that before the truce, but the fuel crisis in Gaza is far from over.
Mohamed Odwan, chief of border crossings authorities in the Hamas government, said during the first month of the truce in force, Israel closed down Gaza border crossings for 10 days due to unconvincing reasons.
"It's true that Israel allowed for the first time since it imposed the blockade on Gaza cements, iron, clothes, shoes and other kinds of soft drinks, but those amounts are very small and can never be sufficient to bring normal life back to Gaza," said Odwan.
"Hamas government in Gaza organized the process of fuels delivery to cars and vehicles by giving them limited amounts of fuels for normal prices," said Ahmed Abu Hashem, a Palestinian employee working at a Rafah gas station.
Besides setting fuel quota for each vehicle, Gaza ruler Hamas obliges all drivers to pay the annual fee of their vehicle license before getting fuels from gas stations. (1 U.S. dollar = 3.4 Israeli shekels)
Source:Xinhua
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