ALBAWABA – Occupation authorities suspended all Israeli imports from Gaza after allegedly foiling an attempt to smuggle explosives out of the besieged strip, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Monday.
Occupation forces detected “several kilograms of high-quality explosives, hidden within a clothing delivery carried by three trucks” at the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to an official Israeli statement.
The Kerem Shalom crossing connects 1948 Palestinian territories, known today as Israel, with Gaza and Egypt, and is used to carry goods in and out Gaza, from and to the Israeli territories and Egypt.
Israeli imports from Gaza will resume after security adjustments
Occupation Army chief of staff Herzi Halevi, with approval from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, ordered the suspension of "commercial deliveries from Gaza to Israel, allowing security adjustments to be made at the crossing", the statement said.
US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon at the Kerem Shalom crossing on August 29, 2016. Authorities suspended all Israeli imports from Gaza – Wikipedia
"Deliveries will resume in accordance with subsequent situation assessments," it added, according to AFP.
The statement said the Israeli authorities will not allow militant groups “to take advantage of civilian and humanitarian facilities" for their purposes.
The Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since the Islamist group Hamas seized power there in 2007. The Kerem Shalom crossing is the only point of entry for goods between the enclave and the Israeli territories.
Monday's development comes amid raging tensions in the occupied West Bank territory of Palestine.
Violence from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged and claimed the lives of at least 225 Palestinians so far this year, compared to 32 Israelis, including three Palestinian-Israelis. In addition to one Ukrainian and an Italian, AFP reported.
