JERUSALEM, Nov 21: Israel said on Friday it will maintain its closure of the Gaza Strip despite international concern over a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent Palestinian territory.

“This decision was taken because of the continuation of Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israel,” said Peter Lerner, a defence ministry spokesman.

A rocket fired from Gaza exploded near the port city of Ashkelon early on Friday without causing casualties or damage, army radio said.

A flare-up of violence on Nov 4 prompted Israel to tighten a blockade it has imposed since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in Gaza in June last year.

Since the recent surge in violence, only 33 truckloads of basic supplies and limited quantities of fuel have been allowed into the impoverished coastal strip.

The UN Relief and Works Agency, which distributes rations to half of Gaza’s 1.5-million population, said it had food stocks for “days not weeks.” “In the coming days we expect some food items to run out,” spokesman Chris Gunness said.

The Israeli blockade has already forced UNRWA to suspend its food deliveries once last week. It suspended the distribution of rations last Friday before resuming on Tuesday after some supplies were allowed in the previous day.

Tony Blair, the envoy of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet, made up of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, urged Israel to reopen the border crossings immediately.

“The immediate reopening of Gaza for the regular entry of essential humanitarian and commercial goods, including fuel, food and medicines is vital,” the former British prime minister said.

Israel had been expected to ease its blockade significantly after a truce went into effect in June. It argues that militant attacks have made this impossible but Hamas accuses it of breaching the deal.

“The calm agreed on June 19 has been crucial in providing much-needed security for the people of southern Israel as well as for the people of Gaza and must be maintained.” Senior Israeli defence ministry official Amos Gilad, who led the Israeli side in the Egyptian-brokered negotiations for the truce, insisted that it remained in force and that he expected it to continue.

Asked in a Jerusalem Post interview if the truce had collapsed, he said: “No”.

Gilad told the paper Hamas’s overall interest, “as far as can be judged, is to return to the calm.” He said there was no military solution to the Gaza problem and rejected calls by cabinet members such as Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon for a major ground offensive to topple Hamas.

“Experience shows that military operations don’t always solve problems in the Middle East. You have to find the optimal solution. To date no appropriate military solution was found for the Strip.” At a cabinet meeting on Sunday at which Olmert accused Hamas of “shattering” the truce, Barak called for it to be extended beyond its initial six-month term which expires on December 19.

The head of the Hamas administration in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, said all of the Palestinian factions in Gaza were prepared to respect the truce if Israel kept to its side of the bargain.—AFP