Normalverkehr

Israel will keep all access to the Gaza Strip closed Tuesday, said an Israeli spokesman.

“This decision has been taken by the Defence Minister Ehud Barak because of the continued Palestinian rocket fire at southern Israel,” Peter Lerner, of the office handling Israeli activities in the Palestinian territories, told AFP.

Six rockets fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday came down in the Negev desert, southern Israel, without causing any casualties, police said.

The attacks were the latest in and around the besieged Gaza Strip where Israeli forces and Palestinian militants have engaged in almost daily tit-for-tat attacks since November 4.

Food distribution to half the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million population was to resume on Tuesday but the United Nations fears supplies will soon run out unless Israel eases its crippling blockade.

“Distribution will go on of the very small amount we brought in on Monday,” said UN Works and Relief Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness.

“The supplies will last days, not weeks,” he told AFP.

Amid mounting pressure from the international community, Israel last week allowed some industrial fuel to be delivered to Gaza’s sole power plant and on Monday it let in 33 truckloads of humanitarian and other basic supplies.