Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Egypt Sends Fuel to Power Gaza amid Electricity Crisis | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55377115
Caption:

A Palestinian man walks as fuel tankers enter Gaza’s power plant through the Rafah border between Egypt and southern Gaza Strip June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa


As of Wednesday to deliver a million liters of fuel to Gaza, a Palestinian official said, in an attempt to ease the Palestinian enclave’s desperate power crisis.

Most of the fuel trucks will pass through the Rafah border and will be routed to the territory’s only power station.

The power station was shut down as of April due to fuel shortages.

Wael Abu Omar, the Rafah crossing spokesman, told AFP that eight shipments had entered, with a further 14 expected later in the day.

“A million litres (220,000 gallons) of fuel for the power plant will enter today,” he said.

That is enough to enable the power station to operate for two to three days, Samir Moutair, director general of the Gaza electricity company, told AFP.

At least two million residents in Gaza were already receiving only a few hours of mains power before this week.

The Egyptian response temporarily eases the crisis and Abu Omar said further deliveries were expected before Saturday, ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Gaza’s ruling bloc, Hamas, had seized control of Gaza from the Fatah movement in a near civil war in 2007 and multiple attempts at reconciliation have failed.

However, the Palestinian Authority had continued to pay Israel for some electricity delivered to Gaza until this month.

Hamas, which swept Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 but remains blacklisted as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.