a taxi to take them from town to town. Many employees miss work and students cannot regularly attend universities.

Taxi drivers are facing great difficulty finding fuel for their vehicles. Dozens have been forced to stop working owing to the lack of fuel. However, most now have to wait for hours in very long lines to get only a limited amount of fuel. Al Mezan's field workers reported that these long lines are now commonplace in the Gaza Strip. Drivers must keep their vehicles in line for gas with only the hope that the IOF will allow fuel to enter so they can run their engines for one day.

Israel increased fuel cuts significantly since the second half of 2007. Responding to a petition by ten Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations condemning the cuts as collective punishment against the civilian population of the Strip, the Israeli High Court ruled on 27 January 2008 that the Israeli government was permitted to pursue fuel and electricity cuts as long as they do not infringe on the 'basic humanitarian needs' of the population. The IOF reduced uniformly the amounts of fuel entering Gaza since then.

The fuel restrictions have also caused paralysis to the fishing sector. The blockade threatens the fishing industry, which employs 5,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Three thousand of those are fishermen. The severe fuel cuts by the IOF affect their work directly. Most of the fishing boats in Gaza have small engines running only on benzene. Larger fishing boats, of which there are sixteen in the Strip, run on diesel. Each of these boats consumes 700 liters of diesel per day. This drives the consumption of all boats to 11,200 liters every day. In addition, fishermen use cooking gas to light areas of the sea, which attract the fish.

The Strip's average daily diesel consumption is approximately 510,000 liters. This quantity provides fuel to run electricity generators that compensate the shortage of electricity at hospitals, municipal facilities, water wells and private sector enterprises. The diesel fuel is for the operation of the Strip's 8,000 taxis, 2,620 lorries (semis), 1,136 trucks, 7,566 commercial vehicles and 254 buses.

The estimated daily consumption of benzene is 200,000 liters, which is the amount the IOF permitted into the Strip prior to the restrictions. The Strip also consumes 250 tons of cooking gas per day. The IOF's restrictions caused a severe shortage of gas cylinders, causing the price to increase by over 250% due to shortage and increased demand.

The following table shows the quantities of fuel permitted into the Strip by the IOF during the first quarter of 2008. The figures are based on the daily monitoring of fuel supply by Al Mezan Center:

Al Mezan reiterates its strong condemnation of the IOF's continued blockade of the Gaza Strip. This blockade is indiscriminate and punitive in nature; therefore, it represents a grave breach of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which prohibits collective penalties. Israel's justification for the fuel cuts is founded on the idea that the cuts observe the 'minimum humanitarian needs' of the population which contradicts the rules of IHL. These rules establish an obligation of the occupying power to ensure the population's needs, as well as an entitlement of the population to have their needs ensured. Israel's 'minimum humanitarian needs' argument is a novel Israeli invention that has no basis in international law.

As such, Al Mezan renews its calls on the international community to abandon its silence and act upon its moral and legal responsibilities toward the civilian population of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The international community must not tolerate such serious violations of IHL, which constitute collective punishment measures imposed by the IOF on Gazans. It poses risks on the lives of Gazans and their dignity, and the IOF must provide meaningful protection for the rights of the population.

END

(Emphasis added)

Posted by Justice Lover

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