Power and fuel cuts bite in Gaza
Fears of humanitarian crisis as Palestinians struggle under Israel’s fuel blockade.
“The catastrophe will affect hospitals, medical clinics, water wells, houses, factories – all aspects of life.”
“The logic of this defies basic humanitarian standards,” Christopher Gunness, UNRWA spokesman, said.
The Strip’s plant in Central Gaza, which receives its fuel from Israel and is partially supplied by the European Union, generates just under a third of the total supply.
| In video |
|
Nour Odeh reports on the pressure mounting on the Palestinian president |
Khaled Mashaal, Hamas’s political chief, has called on Arab leaders and rival Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, for help to restore power in Gaza City.
“We are not asking you to wage a military war against Israel … but just stand with us in pride and honour,” he said from Syria where he lives in exile.
Abbas urged Israel to immediately lift the Gaza blockade and resume delivery of fuel supplies.
Israeli response
Nabil Abu Rudeina, his spokesman, said Abbas also called for a “special meeting” of foreign ministers of the Arab League to discuss the crisis.
“If Israel does not lift the blockade in the next few hours, we are going to raise the issue with the UN Security Council,” Abu Rudeina added.
 |
| Palestinians fear the power cut could be disastrous for the health sector [AFP] |
Power outages have become commonplace in the Gaza Strip in recent months after Israel declared the area a “hostile entity” and began restricting fuel supplies.
Ahead of the shutdown, residents bought up batteries and candles, as well as basic foods like rice, flour and cooking oil. Bakeries stopped operating because they had neither power nor flour.
Dr Medhat Abbas, head of the crisis management unit at the health ministry in Gaza, said that electricity from generators would only be available for a few more hours at the Al-Nasser children’s hospital.
“These patients and these children are facing their destiny and they will die soon,” he told Al Jazeera.
“It also means no fuel for the generators that fuel the water pumps – a lot of the water in Gaza is deep beneath the surface, and it has to be pumped to the surface – so no fuel can also mean no water.”
The Israeli foreign ministry said the diversion of fuel from domestic power generators to other uses was “wholly a Hamas decision”.
 |
| At least two Palestinians were killed and two wounded in Israeli air raids on Sunday [AFP] |
The organisation has criticised Israel’s decision to close border crossings into Gaza, preventing aid deliveries to the 1.5 million people living in the territory, saying on Saturday that the move could provoke a humanitarian crisis.