By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Egypt has allowed domestic gas deliveries into the blockaded Gaza Strip for the first time, according to a Palestinian official on Sunday.

“Some 250 tons of domestic gas have been allowed into Gaza,” Khalil Shakfa, head of the General Authority of Petroleum, told Anadolu Agency.

The official said that the move came as a trial before allowing the domestic gas into the strip on a daily basis.

He said the gas deliveries were allowed into Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Israel has shut the Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza’s sole commercial access point, as a punitive measure over the launch of incendiary balloons by Palestinian activists from the seaside enclave into Israel, banning all deliveries except food and medicine.

Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has groaned under a crippling Israeli blockade that continues to deprive its inhabitants of many essential commodities, including food, fuel, medicine and building materials.