JERUSALEM: Israel sent troops into northern Gaza on Sunday and cut off petrol supplies to the territory as it moved to isolate the Islamic militants of Hamas who are now in full control.
Israel also pledged to step up support for moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose writ is now effectively confined to the occupied West Bank, and was expected to resume full cooperation with his new cabinet, after shunning previous Hamas-led governments for more than a year.
Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh denied that the Israeli incursion into neighbouring areas of northern Gaza presaged an imminent offensive against the territory.
"These are activities of a preventive character, for the moment we are not going on the offensive in the Gaza Strip," Sneh told public radio.
"There are sectors where it's better that it is us who is present rather than others," he said, alluding to the danger of rocket fire by Hamas militants from the sites of two former settlements that Israel dismantled in 2005.
The announcement that the Gaza Strip's sole provider of petrol, Israeli firm Dor Alon, had halted deliveries to the territory raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in the import-dependent territory.
Israel insisted that the company had cut off supplies to Gaza at the request of Abbas's government in the West Bank, but the Palestinian president's aides vigorously denied the charge.
"On Friday, Palestinian Authority representatives asked the company not to deliver petrol for the time being," the Israeli infrastructure ministry said in a statement.
But Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat retorted that the reverse was the case.
"I received an order from president Abbas to ask the Israeli side to continue delivering everything to Gaza -- fuel, food, electricity. I contacted the Israeli side and they told me they would study the request," Erakat said.
Israeli Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer is due to hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the continuation of fuel, electricity and water supplies to Gaza.
"I don't think the Gaza Strip will survive from a humanitarian perspective for more than a month if Israel does not open the lid," the minister acknowledged on Saturday.
Israel shut all border crossings to Gaza after Hamas routed security services loyal to Abbas on Thursday night, effectively sealing off the impoverished territory from the outside world.
But a senior official travelling with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on a visit to the United States insisted that Israel would ensure the delivery of essential supplies.
"There will not be a humanitarian crisis in Gaza," the official said.
Olmert said before leaving that Israel would cooperate with Abbas's new emergency cabinet headed by Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad.
"A Palestinian government which is not a Hamas government is a partner and we will cooperate with it," he told reporters. "A new reality has been created during these past days which we haven't known during the long diplomatic efforts accompanying the evolution of the Palestinian Authority, and we have the intention of working full-tilt to seize this opportunity."
Senior officials said in recent days that Israel was willing to release hundreds of millions of dollars in customs revenues that it has withheld from the Palestinian Authority since Hamas came to power, as well as resuming full contacts with Abbas's new cabinet.
