Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kerem Shalom is the main lifeline for the two million people living in Gaza

Israel has fully reopened its cargo crossing with Gaza, saying it is in response to a period of relative calm.

Lorries carrying fuel and commercial goods passed through Kerem Shalom on Wednesday after weeks of restrictions.

The fishing zone off Gaza's coast was also restored to 17km (nine nautical miles), having been reduced to 6km.

Kerem Shalom was closed for all but humanitarian deliveries in retaliation for cross-border incendiary kite and balloon attacks by Palestinians.

Human rights groups said the move amounted to illegal collective punishment.

Kerem Shalom is the main lifeline for the two million people living in Gaza, and the territory's economy is almost entirely dependent on it.

Image copyright EPA Image caption A barrage of rockets hit Sderot and other southern Israeli towns last Wednesday

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman promised to use a "heavy hand" with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which dominates Gaza, when they imposed tighter restrictions on the use of Kerem Shalom on 9 July.

They demanded Hamas stopped the launching of incendiary balloons and kites that have sparked hundreds of fires in southern Israel since April, burning more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of forest and farmland and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.

However, the arson attacks did not stop and there have been several flare-ups in violence that have raised fears of a new war.

Image copyright AFP Image caption A cultural centre that Israel said was being used by Hamas was targeted

Last Wednesday night, militants fired more than 180 rockets and mortars into southern Israel, and the Israeli military carried out more than 150 air strikes on "military and strategic" targets in Gaza. The escalation left three Palestinians dead and seven civilians in Israel injured.

A truce mediated by Egypt and the UN reportedly took effect the following night, and there have been fewer reports of incendiary devices being launched since.

In a message posted in Arabic on Facebook on Wednesday morning, Mr Lieberman said he had decided to reopen Kerem Shalom and extend the fishing zone "as a clear message to the residents of the Gaza Strip: peace and quiet are worth it and violence is not".

"The residents of Gaza have much to gain when the citizens of Israel enjoy peace and security, and much to lose when quiet is disturbed."

Mr Lieberman accused the leadership of Hamas of using civilians "as live ammunition and as human shields" and warned: "If Hamas turns to violence again, we will respond immediately and in a much more severe manner than before."

Image copyright EPA Image caption Avigdor Lieberman (C) discussed reopening Kerem Shalom with senior Israeli security officials

More than 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the end of March - most during protests along the Gaza-Israel border at which thousands have expressed their support for the declared right of Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel.

One Israeli soldier has been shot dead by a Palestinian sniper during the same period.

The BBC's Yolande Knell in Gaza says the reopening of Kerem Shalom crossing has raised hopes that Egypt and the United Nations could be getting closer to negotiating a more comprehensive truce between Israel and Hamas that would prevent another escalation and ease the severe economic hardship in Gaza.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Israel limited Gaza's fishing zone to three nautical miles last month

On Tuesday, Israel's finance minister confirmed a report that Mr Netanyahu had secretly met Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt in May. The two men are believed to have discussed the terms for a ceasefire, the easing of the blockade of Gaza, and the rebuilding of its infrastructure.

Israel and Egypt imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Gaza when Hamas reinforced its power over the territory in 2007 by ousting its rivals, a year after winning legislative elections. The two countries say the blockade is for self-defence.

In a separate development on Tuesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that it might not be able to open schools for more than half a million children in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon this month because it had run out of money to pay their 22,000 teachers.

Unrwa officials said the decision by US - which has long been the agency's largest single donor - to withhold $305m (£240m) of funding this year was the main cause of the financial crisis. The Trump administration has said it will withhold funds until Unrwa makes unspecified "reforms".</s>JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the reopening of the Kerem Shalom Crossing to full capacity Wednesday morning, following three days of relative quiet.

Normally, truckloads of goods enter the Gaza Strip every day. Lieberman also extended the fishing zone off Gaza's coast back to nine nautical miles.

Israeli navy patrols keep a close eye on the area, in the past preventing terror attacks and infiltrations. The navy also prevents flotillas from breaking Israel's naval blockade of Gaza (supported under international law) and has turned back passenger boats attempting to set sail from Gaza, also breaching the blockade.

Lieberman told Gaza residents the State of Israel is the solution, not the problem. He said maintaining quiet is in their best interests. He posted a message in Arabic on the COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) Facebook page.

"I differentiate between the Hamas leadership and the regular Gaza residents," YNet news translated the post.

"That is why I've decided to reopen the Kerem Shalom Crossing and expand the fishing zone back to nine miles as a clear message to the residents of the Strip. 'Calm pays off and violence does not.' The Gaza residents have something to gain when Israeli citizens enjoy quiet and security, and something to lose when this quiet is broken," Lieberman wrote.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said the decision rewards terrorism. Hamas will use the quiet as it has in the past to rebuild its terror infrastructure.

"I can't tell you much about the possibility of a ceasefire, but one thing I can tell you with 100 percent certainty is that if a ceasefire is achieved, Hamas will violate it because that's the nature of Hamas," Oren told CBN News. "Hamas is a jihadist terrorist organization that is sworn to kill us, so it is in its DNA to break that ceasefire."

Lieberman closed the crossing in early May after Hamas protesters set fire to the side facing Gaza, in part to repair the damage. Two weeks ago, he banned fuel and gas shipments because of the daily launch of incendiary devices to set fires in Israel. Some 7,500 acres of wheat fields, nature reserves and forests have been destroyed since the demonstrations began on March 30.

Hamas has turned away truckloads of goods for Gaza residents, including medical provisions, in the past. Besides that, Israeli inspectors have confiscated all kinds of weaponry, explosives materials and similar products designated for the Hamas military infrastructure.</s>Jerusalem, Aug 15 (IANS) Israel on Wednesday reopened the key Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza, which had remained closed to commercial imports and exports for over a month.

The closure came into force on July 9, in response to the wave of incendiary balloons and rocket attacks fired at Israel from the coastal enclave.

“The Kerem Shalom crossing will be reopened this morning for full activity,” the Israeli Defence Forces said in a post on Twitter.

“In addition, the designated fishing zone off the Gaza Strip will be expanded to nine nautical miles.”

The restrictions had severe economic consequences for Gaza, as only humanitarian aid was allowed through the crossing.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Businessmen Association in Gaza said 95 per cent of Gazan industry had been shut down due to the closure of the crossing.</s>Seven hundred trucks passed through Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza Wednesday, the first day the crossing was open since last month, following a surge in Palestinian terror attacks.

Following is a list of the trucks and goods.</s>Israel reopens its only goods crossing with Gaza

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israel reopened its only goods crossing with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in response to relative calm on the border after months of tensions prompted a blockade on most goods from July 9.

An AFP journalist at the Kerem Shalom crossing said dozens of trucks carrying various types of goods, including fuel, began passing into the blockaded Palestinian enclave run by Hamas.

Both Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed the reopening of the crossing, a key lifeline for Gazans and their crippled economy.

Israel also returned the fishing zone it enforces off the Gaza Strip to nine nautical miles in the south of the enclave. The limit is six nautical miles in the north, which borders Israel.

Israeli authorities announced on July 9 that the goods crossing was being closed to most deliveries, partly in response to kites and balloons being flown across the border carrying firebombs to burn Israeli farmland.

Food and medicines have been allowed through, but fuel had been intermittently blocked, including since August 2. All other goods were turned away.

The fuel ban exacerbated an electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip, which already suffers from severe power shortages and relies on generators in many cases.

Gaza border protests broke out on March 30 and have led to months of tension that have also seen several military flare-ups.

At least 169 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli fire since March 30, mostly during clashes and protests.

One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper in July.

Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israel have fought three wars since 2008.</s>A truck carrying goods to Palestinians arrives at Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

A truck carrying goods to Palestinians arrives at Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Photo: SAID KHATIB/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

TEL AVIV— Israel reopened Gaza’s only commercial crossing on Wednesday, removing severe restrictions put in place last month as talks progress over a long-term cease-fire deal between the two sides.

The opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing is expected to further ease tensions as a fragile truce has largely held since intense clashes last week.

“I decided to reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing ... as a clear message to the residents of the Gaza Strip: peace and quiet are worth it and violence is not,” Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defense minister, said in a video posted on Facebook .

“The residents of Gaza have much to gain when the citizens of Israel enjoy peace and security, and much to lose when quiet is disturbed,” he added.

Israel closed the crossing on July 9 to pressure Gaza ruler Hamas to stop launching flaming balloons and kites into Israeli territory, allowing only food and sometimes fuel through as Palestinians continue to protest at the fence dividing the strip from Israel.

Hamas and Israel have also clashed, most recently on Thursday when the extremist group launched more than 200 rockets and mortars into Israel and Israel responded with waves of airstrikes aimed at what it said were Hamas military targets. Both sides have reached a series of shaky temporary cease-fires since May.

Egypt and the United Nations are mediating for a longer-term peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, but talks have been slowed by the outbreaks of violence.

Israel’s security cabinet is set to meet Wednesday to discuss a possible longer-term cease-fire arrangement. Officials from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian groups returned to Egypt on Wednesday for talks on reconciling warring Palestinian factions and reaching a long-term truce with Israel.

The Palestinian Central Council, a legislative-type body of groups in the Palestinian Liberation Organization, is also set to meet in Ramallah on Wednesday where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will likely talk about the ongoing discussions.

Israel’s prime minister is facing pressure from the right over accepting a long-term agreement because critics say it could allow Hamas time to build up its rockets supply.

Naftali Bennett, a member of the security cabinet and the education minister, said his Jewish Home Party would oppose an agreement based on what he called temporary calm.

“After 130 days under attack and rocket fire, we must not reward terrorists without the return of our captives and our fallen. The terrorists will learn that terror pays, and Israel’s power of deterrent will be harmed,” he said in a statement.

Any long-term settlement must include arrangements for the return of Israeli citizens held in Gaza as well as the bodies of Israeli soldiers Gaza is holding, Mr. Lieberman said.

Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took control more than a decade ago. The restrictions have severely harmed Gaza’s economy, plunging the strip into humanitarian crisis. Residents face critical shortages of food, electricity and medicine.

Israel defends the blockade and other restrictions as necessary for protecting its security, as Israel considers Hamas a terror organization.

Also Wednesday, Israel expanded Gaza’s allowed fishing area to nine nautical miles after it had previously curtailed it to three nautical miles. Israel controls how far out Gaza’s fisherman can fish, and sometimes decreases the radius as punishment or as a security measure.

Palestinians have been demonstrating at the border fence separating Gaza and Israel since March. The protesters are calling for the right to return to homes in what is now Israel, which Israel opposes because it would threaten the country’s Jewish majority.

The protests have often turned violent, with some people throwing Molotov cocktails, launching flaming kites and burning tires. Israel has responded to the protests with live fire, killing more than 150 people. Israel says the response is necessary to protect its border.</s>Israel's defence minister has announced it will reopen the main cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday if the relative calm of recent days continues.

Avigdor Lieberman also said the fishing zone off Gaza's coast would once more be extended to 17km (9 nautical miles).

Israel shut the Kerem Shalom crossing for all but humanitarian deliveries five weeks ago in response to attacks by Palestinians along the border.

Rights groups said the move amounted to illegal collective punishment.

Kerem Shalom is the main lifeline for the 2 million people living in Gaza, and the territory's economy is almost entirely dependent on it.

The Israeli government closed Kerem Shalom on 9 July in retaliation for incendiary kite and balloon attacks by Palestinians and attempts to infiltrate its territory.

The arson attacks have sparked hundreds of fires in southern Israel since April, burning more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of forest and farmland and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.

Mr Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had agreed to use a "heavy hand" against the militant group Hamas, which dominates Gaza, to persuade it to end the attacks. But there have been several flare-ups in violence since then that have raised fears of a new war.

Last Wednesday night, militants fired more than 180 rockets and mortars into southern Israel and the Israeli military carried out more than 150 air strikes on "military and strategic" targets in Gaza. The escalation left three Palestinians dead and seven civilians in Israel injured.

A truce mediated by Egypt and the UN reportedly came into effect the following night, and there have been fewer reports of incendiary balloons and kites being launched since.

After meeting senior security officials on Tuesday, Mr Lieberman said: "It was decided that if the relative quiet along the Gaza border that began this week continues until tomorrow morning, the Kerem Shalom Crossing will reopen at 09:00 (06:00 GMT) tomorrow and the fishing zone will be extended back to 9 nautical miles from the coast."

The defence minister added that this was meant to be a sign to Palestinians that "maintaining the quiet is first and foremost in the interest of Gaza residents".

More than 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the end of March - most during protests along the Gaza-Israel border at which thousands have expressed their support for the declared right of Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel.

One Israeli soldier has been shot dead by a Palestinian sniper during the same period.

The reopening of Kerem Shalom comes as the United Nations and Egypt attempt to broker a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel's finance minister confirmed a report that Mr Netanyahu had secretly met Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt in May. The two men are said to have discussed the terms for a ceasefire, the easing of the blockade of Gaza, and the rebuilding of its infrastructure.

Israel and Egypt imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Gaza when Hamas reinforced its power over the territory in 2007 by ousting its rivals, a year after winning legislative elections. The two countries say the blockade is for self-defence.

In a separate development on Tuesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that it might not be able to open schools for more than half a million children in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon this month because it had run out of money to pay their 22,000 teachers.

Unrwa officials said the decision by US - which has long been the agency's largest single donor - to withhold $305m (£240m) of funding this year was the main cause of the financial crisis. The Trump administration has said it will withhold funds until Unrwa makes unspecified "reforms".</s>Israel reopened its only commercial goods crossing to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, following a period of relative calm after months of tension along the frontier.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the crossing was reopened "as a clear message to residents of the Gaza Strip: Quiet pays and violence does not pay."

Read more: 'Most' Israelis and Palestinians oppose two-state solution

Israel closed the Kerem Shalom crossing on July 9, partly in response to Palestinians floating incendiary balloons across the border. Large swaths of land and forests in southern Israel have burned as a result.

Israel also expanded Gaza's fishing zone to 9 nautical miles off the southern coast and to 6 nautical miles in the north, closer to Israel.

Closing the crossing to commercial goods as well as intermittently to fuel imports, including since August 2, have exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation for the Gaza Strip's 2 million inhabitants.

Read more: Gaza feels bite of US cuts to Palestinian aid

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade of the Gaza Strip since Hamas took control of the enclave in 2008. Human rights groups and the UN have described the policy as collective punishment.

Egypt and the UN have been trying to broker a long-term ceasefire between Hamas and Israel after several bouts of cross border violence threatened to escalate into war.

Last week, frontier skirmishes triggered Hamas and other militant factions in the Gaza Strip to fire scores of rockets into Israel, which responded in turn with air strikes on the enclave.

Gaza protests against the decade-old blockade of the enclave have led to at least 169 Palestinians including children, medics and journalists being killed by Israeli fire since March 30. Thousands more have been injured.

One Israeli soldier was killed by a sniper in July and several civilians have been injured from rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.</s>Third Palestinian dies of his wounds after Friday’s protests on Gaza border

Israel reopened its only goods crossing with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in response to relative calm on the border after months of tensions prompted a blockade on most goods from July 9.

An AFP journalist at the Kerem Shalom crossing said dozens of trucks carrying various types of goods, including fuel, began passing into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army said the crossing is opened for "full activity."

A Gaza fishing zone, a key source of income for a few thousand fishermen, will return to nine nautical miles after being restricted to six miles as part of the extra controls, the army added.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday that he decided to ease the restrictions "as a clear message to residents of the Gaza Strip: Quiet pays and violence does not pay."

Israeli authorities announced on July 9 that the goods crossing was being closed to most deliveries, partly in response to kites and balloons being flown across the border carrying firebombs to burn Israeli farmland.

Food and medicines have been allowed through, but fuel had been intermittently blocked, including since August 2. All other goods were turned away.

The fuel ban exacerbated an electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip, which already suffers from severe power shortages and relies on generators in many cases.

Gaza border protests broke out on March 30 and have led to months of tension that have also seen several military flare-ups.

At least 169 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli fire since March 30, mostly during clashes and protests.

One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper in July.

Israel, along with Egypt, has blocked the Gaza Strip - home to some 2 million people - since Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel cites security reasons for the blockade while the UN and human rights groups have criticized the blockade as collective punishment.

Hamas militants in Gaza and Israel have fought three wars since 2008.</s>Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday the crossing would reopen if the situation on the border was calm.

"Following the decision of the Minister of Defense, Mr. Avigdor Liberman, in consultation with the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, the main cargo crossing into Gaza, the Kerem Shalom crossing, will be re-opened this morning for full activity," the IDF said on Twitter.

The IDF added that "the designated fishing zone off the Gaza Strip will be expanded to nine nautical miles," or 10.3 miles.

The current wave of tension between the Israelis and the Palestinians near the Gaza border has been mounting since late March, which marked the beginning of the Palestinian protest campaign against Israel, dubbed the Great March of Return. Over 160 Palestinians were killed in clashes since that time.

Last Wednesday, Palestinians launched about 180 rockets and mortar shells from Gaza, injuring seven Israelis, while the IDF responded with over 150 airstrikes aimed at military targets in the Gaza Strip.
Following a period of quiet, Israel reopens the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.