November 15, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 16, 1429

GAZA CITY, Nov 14:Violence flared again around Gaza on Friday, wounding two militants and an Israeli woman and putting a five-month-old truce in jeopardy as UN food handouts to the Hamas-ruled strip ground to a halt.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held emergency talks with Defence Minister Ehud Barak and military top brass to discuss the “ongoing problematic situation,” the premier’s spokesman Mark Regev said.

Several rockets fired by Gaza militants hit southern Israel and one woman in the frequently targeted city of Sderot was hospitalised with shrapnel wounds, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

At least three rockets hit the city of Ashkelon, home to more than 100,000 Israelis, without causing any casualties, emergency services said.

Hamas said it had targeted the port city with five Grads — military-grade missiles that have a longer range than the makeshift weapons usually fired into southern Israel.

The Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip said it also fired eight rockets at Sderot. One slammed into a kibbutz near the border, causing some damage, Rosenfeld said, as radio urged residents to remain close to shelters.

In Gaza, two militants were wounded in an Israeli air strike, medics and witnesses said.

Three straight days of violence have rocked a fragile June 19 truce and prompted Israel to tighten the blockade of Gaza which it says is aimed at making militants end rocket and mortar attacks.

“If Hamas wishes to maintain the truce, we would consider it but we will not accept the current situation,” Barak said while touring Sderot after Friday’s rocket attack.

Israel usually allows a limited quantity of vital goods into Gaza but it completely sealed off the territory on Nov 5 following a surge of violence.

The UN Works and Relief Agency says the closure has forced it to suspend its distribution of food rations to half of Gaza’s 1.5 million population.

“We have no food,” said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness. “Our warehouses are empty.” Israel also cut off EU-funded fuel supplies to Gaza’s sole power plant on Thursday, prompting it to shut down.

Humanitarian agencies warned that the closure would lead to a further deterioration of the already precarious situation.

“It means children, mothers, elderly people, among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in the Middle East, are not going to get UN assistance,” Gunness said.—AFP