This past Monday, gas stations in Gaza apparently decided to hold a "protest strike" in which they refused to sell fuel to the local populace. At the same time, a program on Hamas radio was broadcast urging Gazans to call in with suggestions for alternative means of transportation to cars and buses. Sure enough, the next day saw several news stories coming out of Gaza reporting on the "fuel crisis" there, focusing on the travails of ordinary Gazans due to "months of restricted Israeli fuel supplies." A taxi driver comments to an AP reporter: "We are like street dogs looking for bones".... And then, on Wednesday, Gazan terror groups stage a carefully coordinated attack on the Nahal Oz fuel depot in which two Israeli civilian workers are killed... It is certainly a remarkable coincidence that an attack such as the one on the Nahal Oz depot - which must have taken weeks, if not months, of planning and preparation - should fall just two days after a seemingly spontaneous and independent strike by local gas station owners. Of course, one would have to believe in this case that the station owners were given the freedom to shut down by a Hamas government that carefully controls every other aspect of daily life in Gaza... Wednesday's attack conveniently took place just after the latest delivery for the Gaza power station had been completed...

And it appears that not everyone there is suffering from a lack of gasoline. China's Xinhua news agency seemed to stray from the approved script this week in registering complaints by station owners that Hamas was taking a cut of the fuel supplies before releasing the rest to the general public. "They seize the fuel to ensure that their cars will not stop and that [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh's convoy will continue to work," one disgruntled driver told Xinhua, whose report also noticed that "instead of lining up for fuel supply, vehicles of Hamas police and security services bypass the long queues and go straight to the electric fuel pump." Certainly, the teams that continue to fire the Kassam rockets seem to have no problem finding gas for their vehicles

Lines like what we wrote before their last stunt - that "when Israel cuts off the Gaza Strip's fuel supply... Israelis will get blamed for refusing to supply gas to [Hamas] soldiers" - don't even qualify as fearless predictions as more. We're even inclined to suggest that there's absolutely nothing new about how Hamas deliberately deprived Gazans of fuel while stealing just enough for terrorism and getting the press to eagerly trumpet their hand-wringing anti-Israel propaganda.

But the way that rival Palestinian groups cooperated to murder the Israeli civilians who were supplying them with fuel even while they complained that Israel wasn't supplying them with enough fuel - that was kind of innovative.

References:
* Palestinians Going Global With Program To Demonize Israel For Deliberate, Hamas-Engineered Gaza Humanitarian Crisis (Updated: WaPo Hops On Board) [MR]
* UN Set To Blame Israel For Intentional, Hamas-Engineered Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza [MR]
* AP: Yup, Humanitarian Crisis Intentionally Caused By Hamas Is Still Israel's Fault [MR]
* UN And "Gaza Businessmen" Agree: It's Israel's Fault That Hamas Has Intentionally Created A Humanitarian Disaster In the Gaza Strip By Blocking Food and Medical Shipments [MR]
* Vulgar Palestinian Propaganda Succeeds with International Media - Again! [MR]
* Palestinians Intentionally Create Humanitarian Crisis, Red Cross and Reuters Parrot Their Claims [MR]
* PalArabs now blame Israel for every medical death in Gaza [Elder Of Ziyon]
* Palestinians Intentionally Creating Humanitarian Crises In Gaza By Refusing To Accept Israeli Fuel [MR]
* Hamas Intentionally Creating Humanitarian Crises In Gaza By Stealing Fuel From Hospitals For Their "Operations" Against Israel [MR]
* Palestinians Shut Down Generator To Create Gaza Humanitarian Crisis, UN Blames Israel [MR]
* UN Statement On Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Somehow Misses "Hamas Intentionally Causing It" Part [MR]
* UN: Gazans Have More Than Enough Food, But Lack Of Fruits And Vegetables Is A Humanitarian Crisis [MR]
* How Hamas fuels Gaza 'gas shortage' [JPost]
* Breaking: Two Israelis Murdered By Fatah, IJ Terrorists - While Supplying Fuel To Gaza (UPDATE: Israeli Towns Shelled For Hours Before And After Attack) [MR]

Previously:
* Hamas Intentionally Creating Humanitarian Disaster In Gaza - Now They're Shutting Down The Few Medical Clinics That Are Still Working
* Hamas Trying To Turn Gaza Into A Humanitarian Disaster - They're Stopping Gazans From Getting Medical Aid
* Palestinians Reject Israeli Humanitarian Efforts - Easier to Demonize Israel That Way