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OPT: Israel says completes its fuel pipeline for Gaza

JERUSALEM, June 11 (Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday it had completed its section of a fuel and natural gas pipeline to directly supply energy to the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip, which remains under an Israeli blockade.

Palestinian officials were unable to confirm any details on their part in its construction or if it was ready, although an Israeli military spokeswoman said the pipeline could begin to operate within a week.

The pipeline was built in coordination with Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Israel placed a blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip two years ago after the Islamist group ousted President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces from the territory.

Israel's security cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss a possible easing of the blockade but gave no indication whether more goods would be allowed in, or when this could happen.

Israel has suspended fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip in the past after militant attacks on the territory's only fuel depot that lies on the Gaza-Israel border at Nahal Oz.

In a speech to the Muslim world in Cairo last week, U.S. President Barack Obama called on Israel to ease hardships for the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million residents.

Israel says that since its December-January offensive against Islamist militants in Gaza it has opened the border to larger amounts of food and medicine.

Gazans have also imported some supplies, including fuel, through smuggling tunnels that run under the border between the coastal territory and Egypt.

Israeli officials could not specify how much fuel could be carried in through the pipeline or to what point it would run on the Gaza side.

(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Angus MacSwan)