Hamas Bans Israeli Fruit Imports to Gaza
Angry at Israel for refusing the entry of vegetables, Hamas “punishes” the Jewish state by refusing to allow Israeli fruit into Gaza. [Didn’t they claim they are “starving”? Funny, they didn’t ban the concrete for the terror tunnels.]
Hamas on Wednesday “punished” Israel – by announcing that it will stop importing Israeli fruit to Gaza.
According to the Ma’an news agency, the reason for the decision, as announced by the Gaza Ministry of Agriculture, is that Israeli authorities prevented vegetables from Gaza from entering Judea and Samaria at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
“We decided to stop importing fruits from the Israeli side to pressure Israel to resume allowing our vegetables to be exported,” Tahsin Wal-Saqqa, general manager of marketing and crossings in the ministry, told Ma’an.
On Sunday, Israel prevented 12 trucks of vegetables from being sent into the Palestinian Authority regions of Judea and Samaria from Gaza. Two of the trucks were supposed to be sent to Jordan, and the total value was estimated at $150,000.
The ban caused Palestinian Arab farmers huge financial losses and will lead to a decrease in prices of vegetables in Gaza, the ministry said at the time.
This is not the first time that Hamas has taken action that in essence punishes Gazans. In the past, it has refused to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority in allowing Gazans to cross into Israel for medical treatment, due to its longstanding row with the Fatah movement.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to allow humanitarian aid and construction materials into Gaza. On Tuesday, 28 trucks of cement entered Gaza, in the second shipment of construction materials for the “private sector” since Operation Protective Edge this summer.
Hamas continues to maintain that Gaza is strapped for cash, even after the UN and international donors pledged $5.4 billion to Hamas less than two months ago.
Hamas has already threatened another war if Gaza were not “rehabilitated” from Operation Protective Edge this summer – a war against Israel which Hamas itself both started and used civilian areas as a base for conflict.
