The Gaza siege begins

Guardian:

Gazans rushed to stock up on petrol and food yesterday as Israel cut fuel supplies in its first concrete response to Hamas's seizure of power in Gaza.

The panic-buying came on another frenetic day of politics as President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a new government in Ramallah and outlawed the Hamas militias that deposed the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. He promised their members would be punished for their actions.

But Ismail Haniyeh, who was fired by Mr Abbas as prime minister on Thursday, insisted that he remained in power and that the new government was illegal.

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The Israeli embargo applied a telling squeeze to petrol supplies in Gaza. Vehicles queued to stock up on fuel and some stations ran out within hours. Dor Alon, the private Israeli fuel company that supplies Gaza, said it would only send shipments to Gaza's power stations. Many areas of Gaza have been without electricity since power cables were damaged in last week's fighting. Gazans also stockpiled food, emptying supermarket shelves of food and contributing to price rises.

Workers at Gaza's only fuel warehouse told the Associated Press that supplies had run out. Early yesterday, the owners of 15 petrol companies came to the warehouse and purchased the last 30 tonnes of fuel. Asef Hamdi, a worker at a Gaza petrol station, feared what the end of the fuel shipments would mean for the territory.

"The results will be Gaza in full darkness, with no cars," he said. "In simple words ... welcome to the Taliban lifestyle".

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Hamas officials began to try to create stability in Gaza after months of instability and violence. Volunteers from Hamas directed traffic while its militias began trying to collect weapons held by families. However, Hamas does not have the power to open borders or import and export goods without cooperating with Egypt and Israel, which do not recognise its seizure of power.

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Gaza is dependent on Israel for all its electricity and food and water. People in Gaza can expect to not have much in the way of electricity in the coming days and survival rations of food and water. Hamas will still attempt to strut and fret on its small stage in Gaza and be generally ignored, unless Israel decides it is time to remove the armed Hamas players from the stage. It would not be a good idea to fire rockets into the Negev at this point.