Israel allows export of more crops from Gaza

Israel allowed the export of cherry tomato from the Gaza Strip for the first time since it imposed a closure on the territory in 2007, a Palestinian official said on Sunday. Two truckloads of the produce were shipped to Jordan on Sunday via Israel, said Raed Fattouh, the Palestinian liaison official, adding that the trucks left through the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing between Gaza and Israel. It was not the first time that Israel had allowed the export of limited amounts of crops over the past couple of years, but the export had been limited to strawberry and flowers. Last summer, Israel amended some policies towards Gaza, easing the ban on export. In 2010, Israel increased the items of goods the Palestinian could import through its commercial crossing points with Gaza. The 2010 relaxation of the blockade was a response to an international dismay that followed Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, during which nine Turks on board were killed.