Palestinians damage their own supply line

During the latest round of Friday demonstrations on 4^th May, rioters broke into the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing and set fire to pipelines that carry fuel and gas into the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian officials initially denied knowledge of it, leaving the Israeli military to point out that this “cynical act of terror” harms civilians in Gaza rather than anyone else.

Israeli military officials said that the rioters did not break through to the Israeli side of the crossing, which is about 400 metres from the Gaza side, but ‘trashed their own supply infrastructure.’

Indeed, the IDF shared a video of the burning gas pipeline at the crossing to confirm their report.

For most observers this will be seen as an utterly senseless action that can only increase the suffering of the ordinary people in Gaza.

Those people often complain that they are suffering from a blockade, and that fuel supplies are so low that electricity is only available for a few hours each day.

Yet the Kerem Shalom crossing is the one place where hundreds of tons of goods flow into Gaza from Israel. It is capable of handling 900 truckloads each day, including fuel which is piped between the two sides of the crossing.

Now the rioters have damaged that one supply line.

Yet despite the importance of this damage, it was not reported in detail by the BBC, who have once again denied their viewers and readers vital evidence about the situation in and around Israel.

BBC Watch believe that the only mention of the incident on the BBC News website came in the form of twenty-two words in a report on another topic:

‘On Saturday, Israel accused Hamas of setting fire to gas supplies and damaging
crossing points where humanitarian supplies are brought into Gaza.’