Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    CAIRO, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Egypt resumed supply of heavy fuel to the power plant in the blocked Palestinian territory of Gaza Strip, averting further deterioration of the humanitarian situation there, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported Wednesday.

    Through a pipeline at the Nahal Oz border crossing, Egypt has succeeded in re-pumping heavy fuel to trucks on the Palestinian side, said a senior Egyptian official on condition of anonymity.

    The diesel offered by Egypt, through efforts with the Israeli side, will help supply Gaza power plant which provides power to many vital utilities especially hospitals, the official said.

    Meanwhile, director of the Palestinian petrol agency said Israel is set to resume piping fuel to Gaza power plant Wednesday after a week of halting.

    "Today, two million liters of industrial diesel will be allowed into Gaza and the station will remain functioning normally," the director, Mujahed Salama, told Voice of Palestine radio.

    On Tuesday, Palestinian officials in Gaza announced that the only power plant in the strip will be shut down by Wednesday evening, owing to the Israeli withholding of fuel shipments to Gaza.

    On April 9, Israel closed the Nahal Oz crossing, the only one through which the fuel is supplied to the impoverished territory, following a Palestinian militant attack which left two Israeli soldiers killed.