Hamas on Monday said that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval of additional measures to further tighten the blockade on Gaza is a crime against humanity added to Israel’s black record of oppression.
Hamas’s spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a press statement Monday that the regional and international silence vis-à-vis the crippling blockade for over 12 years has encouraged Israel to step up its criminal practices against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Barhoum stressed that Israel bears full responsibility for the repercussions of this move and called on the international community to act immediately and put an end to the Israeli crimes against the people of the Gaza Strip.
Earlier Monday Netanyahu and Israel’s War Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to increase pressure on the Gaza Strip in response to the fire kites and balloons sent from the enclave to neighboring Israeli settlements and other “terrorist attacks” led by Hamas.
The new measures include reducing the fishing area from 9 to 6 nautical miles and closing Karem Abu Salem crossing which means that nothing can be imported or exported into/out of the Gaza Strip. All that is to be permitted into Gaza is urgent humanitarian aid in certain cases.
