Gazans rushed to stock up on petrol and food yesterday as Israel cut fuel supplies in its first concrete response to Hamas's seizure of power in Gaza.
The panic-buying came on another frenetic day of politics as President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a new government in Ramallah and outlawed the Hamas militias that deposed the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.
But Ismail Haniyeh, who was fired by Mr Abbas as prime minister on Thursday, insisted that he remained in power and that the new government was illegal.
The Israeli embargo applied a telling squeeze to petrol supplies in Gaza. Vehicles queued to stock up on fuel and some stations ran out within hours. Many areas of Gaza have been without electricity since power cables were damaged in last week's fighting.
Gazans also stockpiled food, emptying supermarket shelves of food and contributing to price rises.
Asef Hamdi, a worker at a Gaza petrol station, feared what the end of the fuel shipments would mean for the territory. "The results will be Gaza in full darkness, with no cars," he said. "In simple words . . . welcome to the Taliban lifestyle."
Meanwhile, efforts for the release of kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston were set back last night when the militants holding him threatened to kill him.
The warning, from a spokesman for a group calling itself the Army of Islam, came on a day when Hamas officials had suggested Johnston's release was only hours away.
"Freeing this detainee has not been part of any deal with any faction or organisation. What appears on television screens and through the media here and there are untrue," the Army of Islam spokesman, named as Abu Khatab, told al-Jazeera television last night.
"If they do not meet our demands, there will be no release for that detainee and if things become more difficult . . . then we would seek God's satisfaction by slaughtering this journalist."
Johnston (45) was seized on March 12th as he drove from the BBC office in Gaza City the short distance to his apartment.