Israel allows gravel into Gaza for first time since Hamas takeover

The gravel shipment was part of the cease-fire deal brokered between Israel and Gaza last month, and may be followed with additional building materials.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi,?Reuters / December 30, 2012

An Israeli boy holds a fist full of gravel in 2010. For the first time since the cease-fire between Israel and Gaza, Israel is allowing gravel to be shipped to Gaza.

Baz Ratner/Reuters

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Israel?eased its blockade of?Gaza?today, allowing a shipment of gravel for private construction into the Palestinian territory for the first time since?Hamas?seized control in 2007.

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A Palestinian official with knowledge of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended eight days of fighting last month between?Israel?and?Gaza?militants said the move had been expected as part of the deal.

"This is the first time gravel has been allowed into?Gaza?for the Palestinian private sector since the blockade," said?Raed Fattouh, the Palestinian official overseeing the shipment of 20 truckloads of the material.

Israel?tightened the blockade after?Hamas, an Islamist group that refuses to recognise the Jewish state, took power five years ago. But under international pressure,?Israel?began to ease the restrictions in 2010 and has allowed international aid agencies to import construction material.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Xj-kEA4DNFo/Israel-allows-gravel-into-Gaza-for-first-time-since-Hamas-takeover

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