Palestinians line up outside a bakery in Gaza City. (Reuters)

GAZA CITY, March 17, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Blasting the crippling Israeli closure of Karni crossing, hundreds of Palestinians lined up outside bakeries in Gaza City on Friday, March 17, to buy bread as shop owners complained they were running out of flour because of Israel's closure of the commercial crossing into the impoverished strip.

"We believe all this was because Hamas won. Punishment will not push people to hate Hamas but it will push them to hate Israel and the world, which is watching in silence," Ahlam Ali, 35-year-old teacher, told Reuters waiting in one bread line.

"We are afraid and we have concerns. We believe things will be unfair," he asserted.

Outside one bakery in Gaza City, at least 70 Palestinians jostled and pushed each other to get bread, while the owner said he had to limit the quantities people could buy, Reuters reported.

Israel has been closing Karni on and off for the last month, citing security concerns.

It has also cut tax transfers to the Palestinians while many Western aid groups are reviewing their programs in the wake of the Hamas election victory.

The US, which has given more than $1.5 billion in aid to the Palestinians since 1993 and had budgeted $234 million for 2006, has begun a full review of such assistance program since Hamas's election win.

Hamas, which was to announce Saturday, March 18, the new cabinet line-up, has played down the aid threat, expecting generous aid from Arabs and Muslims to bridge the financial gap.

Many Palestinian shopkeepers said they had run out of flour sacks. Some Palestinians said they had traveled the entire narrow strip in a fruitless hunt.

Hisham Al-Shanti, owner of one of the largest bakeries in Gaza City, said he had enough flour for one more day.

"If the crossing continues to be closed, we will shut the doors of the bakery," he told Reuters.

A sack of flour, if found, was selling for 95 shekels ($20.30) from 70 shekels before the closure. A sack of rice was 180 shekels ($38.5) from 100 shekels.

Many shops have run out of other food such as dairy products.

Palestinians have complained of looming shortages of many basic food stuffs while UN agencies have warned that stocks were running low and prices skyrocketing due to the deadly Israeli closure.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said in a March 7 report that Israel's closure of Karni, the Gaza Strip's main commercial crossing, has caused steep financial losses and risks an agricultural catastrophe in the impoverished area.