(Adds Israeli comment, Gaza residents, U.N. official)

By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM, June 18 (Reuters) - Israel, the transit point for goods entering the Gaza Strip, ordered cargo shipments bound for the Hamas-controlled territory blocked, the Israeli customs authority said in a letter obtained by Reuters on Monday.

But officials said shipments to Gaza, an impoverished enclave almost entirely dependent on imports and international aid, may be allowed to go through at a later date.

Israel wants to isolate Hamas Islamists -- economically, diplomatically and militarily -- in the Gaza Strip, while allowing funds and trade to flow to the Western-backed emergency government set up in the occupied West Bank by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"Given recent developments in the Gaza Strip and the closure of crossings between it and Israel, I hereby inform you that no cargo destined for the strip is to be released until further notice," an Israeli Finance Ministry official in charge of customs told Israeli customs agents in the June 17 letter.

A spokesperson for Israel's tax and customs authority said the order was issued because crossings into Gaza have been closed, calling it "a technical steps, not a policy decision."

The spokesperson said shipments bound for Gaza through Israel were still arriving at Israeli ports and that containers were being put into storage.

"No one in the international community, Israel included, wants to deepen the current hardship, and ways have to be found to facilitate the flow of foodstuffs and medicines to Gaza," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

Worried Gazans stocked up on essentials, fearing the border crossings would remain shut. "I have children to feed and I cannot feed them on politics. They need rice and flour," Abu Khalil, a 45-year-old father of six.

Shlomo Dror, spokesman for Israel's coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said Israel was trying to work through international aid groups to provide assistance to Gaza.

"We are thinking of operating other routes to provide supplies, including from the air," Dror said.

Western diplomats and aid groups said Israel was trying to find indirect channels in order to coordinate day-to-day issues with the Hamas administration in Gaza.

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli company that provides fuel to the Gaza Strip, Dor Alon, said it restored normal supplies, reversing a decision announced on Sunday to provide fuel only to Gaza's power stations.

Hamas seized control of Gaza last week after routing forces loyal to Abbas's secular Fatah faction, prompting the closure of the main crossing points, including the Karni commercial terminal for goods.

Between 1,200 and 1,500 containers enter Gaza through Karni per month, according to Palestinian shippers.

Aid groups have warned of dire consequences for Gaza's 1.5 million residents if the crossing remains closed.

Karen Koning AbuZayd, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said the agency's operations in Gaza "had returned to levels seen before the current round of fighting".

Israel controls the land crossings between Gaza and Israel, as well as Gaza's airspace and territorial waters. Israel does not allow the crossing of people or goods by sea or air.

Under the Israeli customs order, containers arriving at Israeli ports of entry, including the southern port of Ashdod near Gaza, will not be cleared through Israeli customs, said Majdi Haj Khalil, general manager for the Palestinian Shippers' Council. Containers bound for the occupied West Bank will be cleared for entry, he added. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Dan Williams)

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