Qatari fuel for Gaza blocked by unrest in Sinai

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The Aug. 5 border attack prompted a large Egyptian military operation
in Sinai to crack down on militants. (MaanImages/File)
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma’an) — Fuel donated by Qatar for the Gaza Strip has been held up in Egypt’s Sinai due to unrest, Egyptian security officials said on Sunday.

Seven trucks of fuel were set to leave Egypt via Israel’s al-Auja crossing, escorted by security officers from Suez, but the delivery had to be abandoned after Bedouin blocked roads in central Sinai, the security sources said.

The officials noted that Hajj pilgrims from Gaza were still returning to the strip from northern Sinai city el-Arish despite the security situation.

Three Egyptian policemen died on Saturday when gunmen fired on their car in el-Arish, before escaping.

Police officers across Sinai later left their posts to block the el-Arish security directorate in protest against the killings, a Ma’an reporter said.

Egypt’s defense minister Abdul al-Fatah al-Sisi and interior minister Ahmad Jamal al-Din flew into El-Arish on Sunday to address the police protesters.

They announced the replacement of the North Sinai security director Ahmad Bakir with his deputy Samih Ahmad Bishady, in an effort to allay the crisis.

The Qatari fuel is part of 27 million liters donated by the Gulf state to ease Gaza’s energy crisis. It was delivered to Egypt and is being transferred to Gaza with Israeli cooperation through the restive Sinai.

A police source said Saturday’s attackers were probably militants who Egyptian forces, in the biggest security crackdown Sinai has seen in decades, have been hunting since the ambush killing of 16 border guards on Aug. 5.

The August attack prompted the government to send in hundreds of troops backed by tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters in a joint operation with police to raid militant hideouts, arrest suspects and seize weapons.

But efforts to impose central authority in the lawless desert region are complicated by the indigenous Bedouin population’s ingrained hostility to the government in Cairo.