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The fighting near the terminal comes at a time of fresh concern over fuel shortages in Gaza. Israel has cut the fuel it supplies as part of the economic pressure on the Hamas-run territory, which it now describes as a "hostile entity". After the attack at Nahal Oz last week Israel halted fuel supplies, though they were restarted later yesterday.

On Tuesday, UN agencies voiced concern about the fuel crisis in Gaza. Two universities have closed because so few students were able to attend, and few drivers have found enough petrol. The price of gasoline and diesel has surged on the black market. The UN agencies said the limited fuel supplies were having a "severe impact upon daily life for the population".

The UN said: "The situation is a threat to the health and wellbeing of the population of the Gaza Strip, 56% of whom are children." The organisation said Israel supplied 3.8m litres of diesel and 340,000 litres of benzene to Gaza this March, down from 8.8m litres of diesel and 1.7m litres of benzene in March last year.

The present fuel crisis in Gaza has been complicated by the attacks by Palestinian militants on the Nahal Oz fuel crossing and by a strike of the Gaza Petrol and Gas Station Owners' Association, whose members stopped supplying fuel in protest at the reduced deliveries. Israeli officials accuse Hamas of "staging an energy crisis" for propaganda purposes.

Hamas sounded defiant after yesterday's fighting. "This is a letter to the Zionist enemy," said Abu Obedia, a known Hamas spokesman. "We will be the flaming rock upon which you will fall."

A report last week from an Israeli group called the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre, which is close to the Israeli military, said Hamas was growing stronger and that it now had a force of 20,000 armed men.

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