Description

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, welcomed on Wednesday the Israeli decision to completely reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing with the besieged Gaza Strip.

The reopening of the Kerem Shalom crossing allowed the resumption of movement of needed goods, fuel and construction material into Gaza after closing for other a month, as well as expanding the fishing zone off the coast of Gaza to nine nautical miles from the current three.

A UN spokesperson released a statement in which Guterres welcomed all efforts to prevent an outbreak of a new conflict between Gaza and Israel.

The statement said that "Guterres is encouraged to see that those concerned have responded to calls to avoid the devastating impact of yet another conflict on the civilian population in and around Gaza."

"The Secretary-General calls on all parties to support the efforts of UN Special Coordinator, Nickolay Mladenov, and Egypt to avoid an escalation and address all humanitarian issues in Gaza and the return of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to Gaza."

The closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing in July came after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to impose severe economic sanctions on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu's decision was after four months of incendiary kites and explosive balloons launch from the strip into southern Israel, which has scorched thousands of acres of land along the borders.

His decision had also included the temporarily suspension of imports and exports with the exception of basic humanitarian supplies through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Netanyahu's decision had also reduced the allowed fishing zone from six to three nautical miles.

Following a reduction of incendiary kites and explosive balloons being launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, Lieberman decided to partially reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing at the end of July, allowing food, medicine, fuel and gas into Gaza.