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Israel brands Gaza "enemy entity," votes to cut power supply

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TEL AVIV, September 19 (RIA Novosti) - Israel's security cabinet declared the Gaza Strip "an enemy entity" on Wednesday, and voted to toughen sanctions against the Palestinian enclave.

Key ministers and security officials unanimously backed cutting fuel and power supplies to the small region, home to 1.5-million people and controlled since June by radical Islamist movement Hamas, if rocket fire continues from Gaza.

A rocket strike on a military base near the border with Gaza last week left 69 Israeli conscripts injured.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the crossings between Israel and Gaza, which is heavily dependent on outside aid, will only allow food and medical supplies to pass through.

After the security meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office released a statement saying Hamas bore responsibility for "hostile activity" coming from the territory.

"Hamas is a terrorist organization that has taken control of the Gaza Strip and turned it into hostile territory," Haaretz quoted the statement as saying. "This organization engages in hostile activity against the State of Israel and its citizens and bears responsibility for this activity."

Hamas condemned the sanctions, saying Israel would be to blame for a humanitarian crisis that is likely to follow the measures.

"Israel is responsible for any humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Defending our people is what we are left to do, and we are calling on all our brothers to form a united front in response to Israeli intentions to suffocate us," Hamas spokesman Fauzi Barhum said.

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