Urban: I do not watch Fox so I honestly could not tell you what appears on it, nor have I seen footage outside of Israeli footage and as for unrestricted/unclassified I have only seen Israeli news reports, even Channel 2 sometimes shows it.
I gather my information from a variety of places, most notably people, but you did ask me in a civil manner so I did my best to find you something verifable that you might easily double check and indeed have found two accounts in the media. One is a hardcopy of the Ha'aretz and the other an online version of the Jerusalem Post. I do not have hyperlinks for either one but will provide all information on both articles as well as the synopsis of the information contained within.
I) "Security and Defense (sic): Combat Boost" by Ya'akov Katz in an online edition of the Jerusalem Post that was originally posted on 4/24/08 and updated (my last record) on 4/26/08.
In his piece, Katz reported that (something I have long talked about in this forum) Israel is finally deciding that it too must play the media game instead of expecting the world to find information on its own and has redeployed Col.Nir Press, a former Israeli Naval officer now attached to the IDF and in charge of all material entering Gaza via his position as the Chief of Gaza Coordination and Liason Administration which is headquarrered at the Erez Crossing.
Col. Press has been sent here to NYC in the US to address members of UN organisations such as the WHO and UNRWA, UN Delegations, International Organisations such as NGOs, and N. American Jewish organisations.
In his presentation Col. Press explains that there is a minumum of 100 lorries with 53 foot trailers crossing into Gaza each and every day via one or both of the new truck crossings (new because prior to the HAMAS coup last year all freight entred and left via Karni Terminal Crossing which is very rarely used now - for freight that is - due to security concerns, and although the 2 Crossings being discussed are not new at all, they are certainly new to freight traffic over the least year). These crossings are Erez and Kerem Shalom.
In addition to the 100 lorries minimum per day, 7 days a week, at least 2 million liters of diesel is being delivered every week via the Petroleum Depot amd Crossing Point at Nachal Oz (neither I nor the article can tell you how much in other types of petrol, only diesel is unrestricted as far as infromation goes).
The Col. explains how this Diesel is primarily for the operation of the Gazan Power Plant (although other needs are met such as veichles that utilise diesel) which has 3 turbines and merely provides a maximum of 30% of Gazan electricty. Israel provides 60 odd percent with the slack picked up by Egypt which also services parts of southern Gaza via its Sinai grid. Ergo, any complaints of a lack of electrcity are utter nonsense. Vital services, as one might imagine, are NOT hooked into the Gazan grid rather into the Israeli grid which does not stop operating. So, when one hears of hospitals in danger of shutting down, one should keep that information in mind.
As for the danger faced at these Crossings, which besides mortar, RPG< and rarely rocket attack, they also face human bombs, car and truck bombs, and small arms fire emanating either from Gaza or from infiltrating Gazan militans (members of either HAMAS or PIJ).
The Col.'s presentation does provide both film and still photos of the RPG and mortar attacks which as of April 11th have become a daily occurrence, despite AID coming through for the people whom these terrorists claim to be waging war on behalf of. All 3 Crossings are shown in these films and photos to be riddled with craters and pocked and destroyed buildings.
On Thursday, 4/17/08 an infiltration at Kerem Shalom was caught in time and the terrorists taken into custody before they could detonate.
On Saturday, 4/19/08 HAMAS detonated 2 car bombs, each packed with 300 kilograms of explosive material plus shrapnel at Kerem Shalom. As a result the Crossing DID have to close for 4 days as security upgrades were put into effect. Freight scedualred for Kerem was rerouted whenever possible through Erez in addition to the usual Erez tally.
On Tuesday, 4/22/08 3 terrorists were caught as they infiltrated Erez Crossing.
The rest of this article deals with the WHO Report on sick Gazans denied Humanitarian Transit Passes into Israel (following of course the erroneous media articles and pieces on this that began I believe this past November with a single case of terminal cancer in an elderly man that sadly turned fatal as he waited to cross.
The article states that the WHO Report is riddled with errors. It used 5 Case Studies. 2 of those people were IN Israeli hospitals when the Report was issued! 2 others were issued their permits before the Report was published/released and NEVER USED THEM (they are still alive so that was not a factor)!
The article then concludes with a statement that when Gazan media was last reporting that there was again a diesel crisis there, Oz tanks were tooped off and awaiting pickup and no trucks were forthcoming so that it certainly appeared to be yet another media manipulation by HAMAS.
The second article is, again, harcopy although I am have seen an online version (in searching for you)that is either reedited or in diffferent format because the relevant infromation only appears in the hard copy.
" UN: Israel Has Given Us Enough Fuel For 20 More Days of Gaza Aid" by Various Agencies in the Tuesday, 5/05/08 edition of Ha'aretz.
In this article the UNRWA (UN Humanitarian AID organisation) man in Gaza, Chris Guness is complaining and says it is a disgrace that his group was only doled out 20 days worth of diesel at a time and that it COULD effect the recipients of his help, a number estimated at well over half a million I believe.
It describes then how he says this the day after Israel put a hold on deliveries into Gaza, in terms of diesel, following a solid week (4/26/08 to 5/02/08) of HAMAS and PIJ attacks on both OZ and trucks connected with the terminal (this is including trucks on the "Palestinian" side. Explanation: At Oz, fuel is brought by Israeli lorry to the terminal, pumped in, and on the other side which is manned by "Palestinians" pieped out into "Palestinian" lorries which then drive up an acces road and onto a small hiway of sorts and onto their destinations).
It talks about how Oz, Shalom, and Erez Crossings are all scarred by daily mortar and RPG fire.
Then it talks about an attack on Oz that took place on or around the 1st of May (the exact date eludes me), which the article describes as a week before this particular article was published. PIJ terrorists inflitrated OZ crossing through the "Palestinian" side, into the Israeli truck lanes and shooting 2 Israeli lorry drivers to death as they waited to offload their petrol.
Then it talks of the 100 trailers a day entering Gaza with solid freight passing through the 2 freight terminals (not including the true freight terminal of Karni Crossing) despite constant mortar salvos.
It mentiones that an average of 4 "Palestinian" lorries full of disel are hijacked, per day, as they pull out of the access lane and onto the hiway (other articles which I also have talk about the PA complaining on all this and how HAMAS is just manipulating,etc.,etc). The article says that HAMAS is doing all the hijackins and that lojack type devices on trailers bear this out as it is eltronically observed as it offloads the diesel at several secure HAMAS compounds in and about Gaza City.
It talks about how that day, the 5th of May, HAMAS police cars put orange stickers on their sides, offering free taxi rides to the public and how the public was mostly shaking their fists at the policemen as they know full well that while they themselves are being deprives of petrol, HAMAS has no problem for its cronies and official vehichles.
It then talks about how private fuel vendors in Gaza belonging to the "Gazan Fuel Vendors Association" are blaming Israel for the shortfall after Israel announced that Oz would close for a couple of days worth of security upgrades folowing the murder of the 2 Israeli drivers there.
The final part is how a cross border smuggling tunnel from Egypt into Gaza, under Rafah, collpased killing 2 men.
That is about it, hope it helps.
