GAZA, June 4 (RIA Novosti) - Israel has suspended fuel supplies to Gaza following a militant rocket attack on a fuel depot, Mahmoud al-Khuzundar of the Gaza petrol station owners association said on Wednesday.
A Qassam rocket hit the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, on the Gaza side of the border, earlier in the day. A Palestinian worker was wounded in the attack, prompting the Israel military to close the border crossing and suspend supplies.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Interior Ministry has condemned the attack, and issued a statement saying it will find and punish the perpetrators.
"This reckless act was directed against the interests of Palestinian people," the statement said. "Those behind the attack are either traitors to their motherland or a group of uncontrolled individuals seeking their own advantage."
In early April Israel halted fuel supplies to Gaza after militants attacked the Nahal Oz oil depot, killing two Israeli workers. The shortage of fuel placed the region on the verge of humanitarian crisis when the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) stopped food assistance to 650,000 Palestinians due to a shortage of gasoline.
Israel has put restrictions on fuel supplies and deliveries of other essential goods to Gaza as part of sanctions to pressure Hamas to stop rocket attacks on Israeli border towns, since the radical group seized control of the enclave from the Fatah movement in June last year.
