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Israel threatens to close off all Gaza crossings

Xinhua, January 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israel's chief military coordinator with the Palestinian threatened Tuesday to close off all Gaza crossings if Hamas won't stop "abusing" exit permits that Israel gives Gazan residents.

The commanding officer of the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, Yoav Mordechai, told al-Quds newspaper that Hamas, a militant organization that controls Gaza, tries to recruits Gazans with exit permits for "terror activities."

Gaza has been under Israeli and Egyptian blockade since the Islamist movement of Hamas took over the control of the Strip in 2007. Since then, Israel has employed a restricted permits policy, allowing people to leave the Strip only in rare cases.

Mordechai accused Hamas of requiring a cancer patient from Gaza's Khan Yunis, who received an exit permit to travel to Nablus for medical care, to gather information for "terrorist elements." Another Gazan was caught by Israeli forces while trying to smuggle goods for Hamas, Mordechai said.

"This situation will eventually lead to the closure of the Strip and the complete cessation of travel by Gazans from the Strip," he warned.

According to Mordechai, since Israel's 2014 offensive in Gaza, Israel has issued at least 100,000 permits for Gazans to exit the Strip for medical care, trade, and worship in Jerusalem's holy sites.

The war claimed the lives of at least 2,251 Palestinians, 65 percent of them civilians, and left Gaza in ruins. The rehabilitation of the Palestinian enclave has been stalled by restrictions imposed by Israel on imports of construction materials and exports of goods from Gaza to the West Bank and Israel. Endit