Mideast situation/Nahal Oz attack – Letter from Israel

Identical letters dated 7 April 2008 from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the

Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

I write to inform you of yet another vicious Palestinian terrorist attack that resulted in the death of two Israeli civilians.

Earlier today, shortly after 1500 hours local time, Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a salvo of mortars at the Nahal Oz crossing and infiltrated the fuel terminal. Two Israeli civilians employed at the terminal were shot dead by at least four Palestinian terrorists who penetrated the depot. Nahal Oz supplies the Gaza Strip with most of its fuel, and the attack on the crossing took place just after the latest delivery of fuel for the Gaza power plant, funded by the European Union.

Today’s attack proves once again that the terrorists in Gaza not only wish to harm Israelis, they also want to harm the civilian infrastructure that allows for any semblance of normal life in the Gaza Strip. While Israel facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the terrorists cynically attack those very crossing points. In the past 24 hours alone, more than 127 trucks carrying medical equipment, diapers and basic food products were transferred from Israel to the Palestinian population in Gaza, via these crossing points, while at the same time more than 50 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel, in addition to the murder of two Israelis at the fuel terminal. The terrorists seek to kill as many Israelis as possible and sabotage any prospect for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, as embodied in the crossing arrangements.

Israel holds Hamas fully responsible for these attacks and their consequences. The terrorists who attacked the fuel terminal today are trying to undermine any effort to achieve peace, and thereby harm the lives and welfare of the residents of Gaza as well.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda items 17 and 18, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Dan Gillerman

Ambassador

Permanent Representative