Israel allows fuel back into Gaza

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Israel has resumed fuel deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip, two days after Gaza's only power plant shut down because of fuel shortages.

An Israeli security official said the Nahal Oz terminal reopened for fuel deliveries on Monday morning.

Israel further curbed fuel supplies to Gaza after militants attacked the terminal five weeks ago.

Israel sealed Gaza off to all but humanitarian supplies after Hamas militants took control in June 2007.

The plant provides electricity to about half of Gaza's 1.5m population, with the rest sent directly from Israel and a small amount from Egypt.

An Israeli official quoted by Reuters said there had been no fuel deliveries in the last week because Israel was marking its 60th anniversary and because of mortar attacks by Palestinian militants.

"We have received three trucks of industrial diesel for the power station so far," the plant official said.

He said he expected the delivery would be enough to run the facility for about three days.

Separately Egypt's powerful intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, has come to Israel to mediate an Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas demands that Israel lift the blockade of Gaza as part of the truce, but Israel insisting on Hamas's disarmament.