State: Limiting power to Gaza causes no humanitarian damage
Government responds to petition from human rights organizations against Defense Ministry's plan to limit flow of electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip in response to qassam rocket fire
"The rate at which the government is limiting the supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip is not enough to cause even minimal humanitarian damage," this according to Colonel Shlomi Muchtar of the IDF Coordination and Liaison Office, which coordinates Palestinian civilian affairs, in an letter delivered Monday to the High Court of Justice.
The letter constituted the state's answer to a petition from Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations opposed to the government's intent to limit the amount of fuel and electricity to the strip in response to qassam rocket fire.
In the letter, Colonel Muchtar claimed that given that the IDF has not controlled Gaza since September 2005, the data it had been requested to present before the court represented estimation rather than exact information.
Nevertheless, he pointed out that the statistics were based on extremely strict methods and calculations.
Israel unable to prioritize fuel distribution
According to Muchtar, Israel does not have the ability to prioritize the distribution of fuel in the Gaza Strip. "If the terror organization controlling the Strip decides to divide fuel based on preference for uses like the launching of qassam rockets against Israel instead of humanitarian uses, Israel has no say in the matter," he said.At the conclusion of the detailed report, in which there were many statistics connected to the different uses of fuel and oil in the Gaza Strip, Muchtar claimed that there exists a wide "humanitarian security margin" in the supply, even after it is limited. The letter ends with a request to overrule the petition.
