Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, said on Tuesday that there are political motives behind the energy shortage that has been troubling the impoverished coastal enclave for four months.

On Tuesday, at most of gas stations in Gaza, owners said they have not even one drop of Israeli or smuggled Egyptian fuel for cars. Traffic in the streets is significantly reduced and more people are seen going to school or work on foot.

Jamal Jarad, chief of transportation union in Gaza told Xinhua that more vehicles are expected to retreat from the streets within a few hours if the crisis goes on.

"Negative consequences have influenced all facilities of our society. Particularly, tens of thousands of families are badly affected as their breadwinners are taxi drivers," said Jarad.

Meanwhile, Mohamed al-Abadela, a committee member of the association for fuels distributers told Xinhua that the Gaza Strip did not receive any fuel supplies for three days on end. "This has worsened the unprecedented crisis that has been there since December."

"The reserves of all kinds of fuels that had been smuggled from Egypt have dried up," said al-Abadela. "It had been said that the Egyptian authorities imposed intensive restrictions on smuggling fuels to the Gaza Strip."

Official figures said earlier that the Gaza Strip needs 700,000 litters of fuels per day, including 200,000 litters of gas and 500, 000 litters of diesel, for hundreds of gas stations in the enclave to operate. However, only 150,000 litters of fuels smuggled from Egypt are supporting the enclave daily since December, when the amounts of fuels allowed through the underground tunnels decreased.