EL-ARISH, Nov 22, 2008 (AFP) - Egypt's northern Sinai is running low on fuel supplies because of the amount of smuggling across the border to the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, Egyptian officials said on Saturday.
"Smuggling to Gaza through tunnels has led to a drastic reduction in fuel supplies at petrol stations" in the northern Sinai, said Mohammed Hussein, a senior official of the Sinai governorate.
Other local officials said work with agricultural equipment was having to cease because of the shortage of fuel.
Other parts of the Sinai are also being affected as trucks from the north loaded with jerry cans ferry fuel supplies to the north, according to workers at petrol stations.
The authorities in northern Sinai have over the past month imposed a ban on the sale of fuel in jerry cans except for agricultural purposes, and ordered all petrol stations to close overnight.
Almost 170,000 litres (about 40,000 gallons) of fuel being readied for shipment to Gaza on the black market was seized last week, officials said.
Israel said on Friday it would maintain its Gaza closure which it reinforced on November 5 despite international concern over a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the food aid-dependent Palestinian territory.
The blockade has also led to severe fuel shortages and power cuts.
str-iba/hc/srm
