Israel will partially reopen Gaza’s only commercial passage, defence minister Avigdor Lieberman has announced.
The Kerem Shalom border crossing, the main export-import conduit for Gazans, lies at the point where the Strip’s borders with Israel and Egypt meet.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu closed the crossing for all imports – bar humanitarian supplies – on July 9 in response to a spate of airborne firebombs launched into Israel from Gaza.
A statement by the Defense Ministry said that the crossing will only be partially opened because Hamas "has not put a complete end to terrorism, but is trying to maintain a low level of incendiary balloon launches and friction on the border fence."
During the closure, the number of lorries delivering humanitarian aid went from more than 1,000 a day to roughly 140.
Mr Lieberman said: "My message to the residents of Gaza is therefore responsibility, and the key in part is the pressure that you, the Gaza residents, apply on the Hamas leadership.
"The key is quiet – calm, no incendiary balloons, no friction along the border, and no rockets, or heaven forbid, [weapons] fire. I hope that we have two days of calm ahead of us.
"Despite the blazes and the fires, we still continue to ship food and medicine. We cannot go beyond that, and as I said regarding merchandise, goods, agricultural products, textiles, all of these things [will be allowed in] only if total quiet is maintained on our side, without balloons, kites or provocations."
On Monday, the electricity provider in Gaza announced that the Gaza population would go without power 18 hours a day instead of 16 hours, Haaretz reports.
Electricity supply in Gaza is now reliant on six power lines from Israel, one of which has been out of commission for a week – as well as power supplied by Egypt.
