Hamas is holding Gaza residents hostage on behalf of Iran, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said in an Arabic Facebook book in which he appealed to Palestinians to overthrow Hamas rule of the small enclave.

“I call on you, residents of Gaza: Act against the extremist leadership that has taken you hostage in the service of the Iranian Ayatollahs,” Liberman said.

His works were posted on the “el-Munasek”, the Arabic-language Facebook page of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Kamil Abu Rukun.

Liberman explained to the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza that he had halted the transfer of all fuel into the Gaza Strip in direct response to Hamas violence against Israel on Friday.

Israel last week began to transfer Qatari funded fuel into Gaza. The United Nations helped with the purchase transaction which for the first time by-passed the Palestinian Authority. The PA has handled such transactions in the past.

The Untied Nations and Israel had hoped that the fuel would put a lid on some of the Gaza violence by easing humanitarian conditions in the Strip, where people are living on approximately four hours of electricity a day.

Qatar had agreed to fund six months of fuel purchases for the Gaza Power plant. But on Friday Palestinian rioters breached the Gaza fence and infiltrated into Israel, approaching an IDF sniper position. The IDF responded to the violent incidents, including with live fire, killing five Palestinians.

On Sunday Liberman told the Gazan’s in Arabic, ”The State of Israel was prepared to improve the civilian reality in the Gaza Strip, but the decision of the Hamas leadership to use serious violence – especially on the same day in which tankers of diesel fuel were brought into the Gaza Strip – is what brought about the decision to cut off the supply of fuels. All of the responsibility for the deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip belongs to Hamas and Hamas alone.”

But in spite of the Gaza escalation, IDF Chief-of-Staff Gadi Eisenkot left for the United States to attend a global defense conference.

Source » jpost