Israeli military officials on Sunday confirmed that fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip would be scaled down on a weekly basis, local daily the Jerusalem Post reported on its website.
Instead of 1.4 million liters of diesel fuel, which is what Israel is providing right now, Gazans will receive 1.25 million liters. However, the supply of mazut, a low-quality fuel oil used mostly in power plants, will not be reduced, the officials were quoted as saying.
The largest cuts in energy supplies will be applied to gasoline, which will drop from 450,000 liters a week to 300,000 liters, said the report.
Earlier in the day, a senior Palestinian official said that Israeli fuel companies had started to execute an Israeli plan to reduce fuel supplies to Gaza.
Although Israeli security officials initially denied the Palestinians' claim, Dor Alon, the Israeli energy company that sells fuel to Gaza, later confirmed that it had received instructions from Israel's Defense Ministry to reduce shipments.
The Israeli government decided last week to reduce the amounts of fuel and electricity given to Gaza, a coastal enclave currently ruled by Hamas with some 1.5 million population, after militant groups intensified their rockets attacks on the Jewish state.
On Saturday, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i told Israel Radio that Israel would begin to make the cuts to Gaza's fuel and electricity supplies as early as Sunday or Monday, after the court system gives the government its final authorization.
Vilna'i further stated that the decision was another stage in disengaging from Gaza and was not a part of any "punishment policy.
