Hamas official denies stealing cement, warns of ‘explosion’

A Hamas official denies Israeli and UN charges of siphoning off cement imports to Gaza and warns of a potential “explosion” unless a cement ban is lifted.

Israel on Monday announced it had stopped private imports of cement to the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, accusing Imad al-Baz, deputy director of the economy ministry, of diverting supplies.

But Baz denies any offense, saying the imports were in line with a UN-brokered Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism aimed at allowing for reconstruction following a devastating 2014 war with Israel.

“We don’t interfere with the cement mechanism,” he tells AFP, adding that all cement distribution sites in Gaza are monitored by Israeli cameras.

He warns that Israel’s decision would have “dire consequences” including “stopping the wheels of reconstruction, destroying the economy and increasing unemployment with adverse repercussions for tens of thousands of citizens.”

“If Israel continues to prevent the supply of cement to Gaza, the situation will explode in the face of the occupation and it will bear the responsibility.”

The Israeli defense ministry body responsible for implementing government policies in the Palestinian territories, COGAT, along with a UN official, accused Baz on Monday of taking “construction materials intended for civil reconstruction.”

“This is a clear example of how Hamas continues to abuse and harm Gaza’s civil population to advance their own personal agenda,” Israel charged.

— AFP