‘No mediation efforts can succeed in Gaza': UN envoy

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - UN's special envoy for Middle East peace said on Friday that under the current circumstances no mediation efforts to prevent escalation between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel in Gaza Strip can succeed.

“Palestinian militants must immediately stop the launching of projectiles, incendiary devices. Israel must restore UN fuel deliveries for electricity,” Nickolay Mladenov said on Twitter.

The Israeli army has intensified its raids on Gaza over the past week along with tightening a blockade under which it has banned the entry of fuel for Gaza's sole power plant, plunging the Palestinian territory into darkness.

The army frequently carries out airstrikes on border areas in retaliation for incendiary attacks which they claim are launched from Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas earlier that Israel considers every incendiary balloon a missile.

Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has quashed under a crippling Israeli blockade that has deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many vital commodities, including food, fuel and medicine.