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Israel Reimposes Blockade of Fuel Supplies to Gaza

Balloons are seen flying over the Israel-Gaza border during a protest in the southern Gaza Strip July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Balloons are seen flying over the Israel-Gaza border during a protest in the southern Gaza Strip July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Israel Reimposes Blockade of Fuel Supplies to Gaza

Balloons are seen flying over the Israel-Gaza border during a protest in the southern Gaza Strip July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Balloons are seen flying over the Israel-Gaza border during a protest in the southern Gaza Strip July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Thursday that Israel is halting the supply of petroleum and natural gas to Gaza in response to the flow of incendiary balloons and kites across the border.

Liberman said in a statement on Wednesday night that Israel would terminate fuel supplies to the territory through the Kerem Shalom because of "continued terror of flaming balloons and friction on the border."

He said the measure starts Thursday.

Israel temporarily suspended fuel shipments to Gaza in July for similar reasons.

Incendiary balloons and kites, many set off during border protests, have caused fires in southern Israel.

Palestinians see them as legitimate resistance against Israel's decade-long blockade of the territory.

The coastal enclave suffers from a severe lack of electricity and relies on fuel-powered generators during outages that last hours at a time.

Israel controls all access to and from the territory apart from Rafah, a single crossing with Egypt which has been only rarely opened.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.