Israel closes Gaza crossings after rocket attack

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel kept its border crossings with the Gaza Strip closed on Wednesday, calling the move a response to a Palestinian rocket salvo that breached an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

The crossings were to have opened at 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EDT) to allow for imports to reach the impoverished territory. But Israeli military liaison official Peter Lerner said they would stay closed until further notice.

"Any reopening will be in accordance with security considerations," he told Reuters.

A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel later informed Egypt that the crossings would reopen to goods on Thursday.

Lerner said he was not aware of any decision having been made.

A European Union official said EU-funded fuel deliveries via Israel to Gaza's main power plant were suspended due to the Israeli move.

The EU official said fuel had been delivered on Tuesday and based on current projections, the power station should be able to continue operations through the week even if deliveries did not resume immediately.

On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad militants fired several rockets into southern Israel, breaching a five-day-old Gaza truce in what they called retaliation for the Israeli army's killing of one of their commanders in the occupied West Bank.

The ceasefire deal does not cover the West Bank.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers, accused Israel of bad faith in closing the crossings, where restrictions were tightened a year ago after the Islamist group took over the territory.

"The closure by the Occupation (Israel) is a violation of the deal for calm in Gaza," Abu Zuhri said.

FARMER

Further stoking tension, Islamic Jihad threatened more attacks on Wednesday for what it called a shooting by Israeli troops of a Palestinian farmer as he worked his field in the village of Khuza, near the Gaza border.

Palestinian medical officials said the man was wounded in the leg but there was no independent confirmation that he had been shot by Israeli forces. In Tel Aviv, an Israeli military spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of any such incident.

After Tuesday's rockets, Hamas urged other factions to hold their fire and said it wanted the truce preserved.