Both of these stories are from Ma’an (Fatah) news today. Evidently there is little gas left in the Sinai, and there never was any grain in Egypt. Or perhaps there is simply no demand for smuggled flour in Gaza, since so much comes in from everywhere else. Or maybe it’s because Hamas has replaced so many bags of food supplies with bags of explosives. The bakeries are using animal grain? Maybe they are just cutting costs to maximize their profits, since Gaza has no problem smuggling in whatever people want. Half the bakeries closed on Friday? So what. Gaza wants more free food, gas and medicine? Don’t we all! Talk to Hamas about it. But all Gaza has to do is quit attacking and harassing Israel to get plenty of freebies. Hamas prefers to keep diverting supplies for themselves and attacking Israel, and their people support it. Gaza must not need food that badly, since they have the means, energy and will to continue trying to kill Israelis every day, and the people don’t do anything but complain about Israel for the cameras. This is all propaganda, and propaganda doesn’t have to be consistent or logical when the devotees are prejudiced and stupid.

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Egyptian security sources said on Saturday that fuel supplies in the northern Sinai were running out because of smuggling into Gaza.

Palestinians have been smuggling the fuel into the Gaza Strip through tunnels under the border between Gaza and Egypt.

---

Gaza – Ma’an – Bakeries in the besieged Gaza Strip have begun grounding second-rate wheat, usually fed to farm animals and birds, to replace depleted reserves as the ongoing Israeli blockade reached its 18th day on Saturday.

Human wheat supplies ran out this weekend as Israeli and Egyptian border guards turned away truckloads of donated food and medication, according to Abd An-Nasser Al-Ajrami, the head of the Gaza Strip Society of Mill Owners.

Fully 50 percent of Gaza’s bakeries were closed by Saturday, according to the United Nations.

Humanitarian conditions in Gaza have fallen to unprecedentedly low levels as Israel’s total blockade, which it claims is in response to Palestinian rocket fire, is preventing the import of food, medication and fuel.