GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A limited delivery of fuel arrived in the Gaza Strip on Monday, brought in through underground tunnels from Egypt, as the energy authority director said he expects a long term solution to the widespread blackouts to be agreed with Egypt this week.
The fuel has allowed the power authority to reactivate one of the four generators at Gaza's sole power plant, the authority said in a statement.
The arrival of 300,000 liters of fuel is expected to provide Gaza's 1.7 million residents with an additional two hours of electricity per day. Since the plant shut down last Tuesday, as deliveries were severely reduced from Egypt, Gaza has had only six hours of power each day.
Egypt had earlier pledged a much larger shipment. An Egyptian MP said Saturday that Egypt would begin pumping 500,000 liters of fuel into Gaza per day for the power plant and 100,000 for gas stations starting Sunday.
But Egypt wants to stop the use of underground tunnels for delivery of Egyptian fuel purchased by Palestinian authorities, a Ma'an correspondent said.
Palestinian Energy Authority Director Omar Kattana said Monday that crisis will be resolved this week, after a delegation of energy officials returned from talks in Egypt.
Egypt has agreed to increase electricity to Gaza that comes directly through power lines on the Rafah border, and a joint Egyptian-Palestinian committee has been formed to examine how fuel can be delivered through "official channels", he said. more
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