The only electricity plant serving the two million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip has partly resumed operations after an unexpected diesel delivery from neighbouring Egypt. Tankers brought one million litres (220,000 gallons) of fuel into the coastal enclave on Thursday, allowing engineers to partly restart the plant and ease the area’s chronic electricity shortage for the next few days. Hamas, the militant organisation which seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, had been using Qatari and Turkish funding to buy diesel to run the plant from Israel - but has repeatedly accused the West Bank’s Palestinian Authority (PA), which coordinates delivery, of driving up prices through unfair taxation. more

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Israeli security cabinet has approved a 40 percent reduction in Israel’s electricity supply to the besieged Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are already coping with a crippling power crisis and daily, hours-long blackouts, according Israeli media reports. The approval came after Israeli authorities announced plans to make the cuts last month, upon request of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in occupied West Bank, which foots Gaza’s monthly electricity bill from Israel by subtracted from taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the PA. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had reportedly informed Israel that the PA only intended to pay 60 percent of the 40 million shekel ($11.19) monthly bill, as Hamas, the de facto ruling party in Gaza, and the Fatah-led PA continued to blame each other for a deepening crisis in Gaza. Both Israel and the PA have accused Hamas of collecting millions of shekels in taxes from Gazans every month without transferring the money to the PA,...

With the prospect looming of a Middle East peace initiative by a new U.S. administration more sympathetic to Israel, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to turn the screw on the Hamas group that has kept Gaza out of his control for a decade. Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) on Thursday told Israel it would no longer pay for the electricity Israel supplies to Gaza, a move that could lead to a complete power shutdown in the territory, whose 2 million people already endure blackouts for much of the day. Israel does not engage directly with Hamas, regarding the Islamist group as a terrorist organization. The PA declined to say why it had taken the step, but had already put pressure on Hamas by withholding the Israeli fuel that until two weeks ago powered Gaza's only generating plant, and slashing the salaries of the civil servants who are one of the mainstays of Gaza's struggling economy. Medical workers say health services are on the verge o...

A member of the central committee of the socialist Palestinian People’s Party (PPP) declared a hunger strike on Sunday in protest of his detention by security forces in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. According to a statement from PPP, Adnan al-Faqaawi was arrested by security forces over his involvement in recent protests in the Gaza Strip, held to demand a resolution to an ever-worsening electricity crisis in the besieged coastal enclave. PPP said al-Faqaawi was being held incommunicado in a detention center in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. Hamas’ security forces have been accused of assaulting journalists and restricting the freedom of expression of demonstrators over the past week, with rights groups and United Nations harshly criticizing Hamas for possible human rights violations and their suppression of dissent amid the protests. more

Amid widespread protests Thursday night regarding the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip, reports have emerged of Hamas security forces assaulting journalists covering the protests, as well as arresting opposition leaders suspected of criticizing the governing party’s handling of the crisis. Crowded marches had set off in the northern Gaza Strip, mainly in the Jabaliya refugee camp, demanding a solution to the power crisis which has left the besieged coastal enclave with less than half of the electricity it needs. Witnesses told Ma’an that during the marches, Gaza security forces opened fire in the air to suppress protesters “to prevent protesters from reaching the electricity company in Jabaliya.” more

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The besieged Gaza Strip is currently receiving less than half of the electricity it needs, Gaza power authority deputy chief Thafer Melhem said on Wednesday. In an interview with the official channel Palestine TV, Melhem said that the blockaded enclave was only provided with 200 megawatts of electricity, only 45 percent of the 450 megawatts needed to fully supply power to Gaza. Melhem said that the severe electricity shortage was not only due to fuel shortages, but also to ongoing tensions with Israeli authorities on a number of issues, notably efforts to improve Gaza’s only power plant. The official added that expansion of power lines coming from both Israel and Egypt could help alleviate the issue, as well as using natural gas instead of diesel to produce electricity. Meanwhile, the Islamic and National Forces organized a march to denounce the electricity crisis on Wednesday in the southern Gaza Strip. more

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has “sought to undermine Turkish efforts aiming to lift the siege on Gaza”, Al-Resalah newspaper reported a senior member of the Turkish Development and Justice Party saying yesterday. Ahmed Farol told the paper: “The PA adopts a hostile position towards Gaza for political reasons which are known, ignoring the humanitarian repercussions for what it is doing.” “Turkey offered several proposals, throughout its current discussions with Israel, to alleviate the siege on Gaza and sort out its problems, mainly electricity. However, the PA never supported any of them.” He added that there were many attempts by the PA to undermine Turkey’s efforts. more

Electricity grids for all districts in the Gaza Strip will only be providing power for six hour intervals followed by 12 hours without power, due to a problem with the Egyptian power lines, Gaza’s electricity company announced Monday morning. The company’s Public Information Officer Tariq Labad told Ma’an that Egypt promised to fix the problem as soon as possible. Labad added that once the Egyptian lines are fixed, electricity grids in the Gaza Strip will return to operating eight hours on, eight hours off, as usual. The Egyptian lines that provide electricity to the southern Gaza Strip contribute 20 megawatts. The Gaza Strip was left almost entirely without power during a number of days last month due to maintenance work on power lines from both Israel and Egypt as well as the ongoing tax disputes on fuel for the enclave’s near-defunct power station. Palestinian officials announced at the end of April the Gaza Strip would be exempted from paying fuel tax this summer, marking a tem...

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Qatari fuel entered the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday, a Palestinian official said, as the besieged territory continues to face an energy crisis. Deputy Head of the Energy Authority, Abed al-Karim Abdeen, told Ma'an that 180,000 liters of fuel entered the coastal territory while another 180,000 liters are due to enter on Wednesday. There will likely be more shipments next Sunday or Monday, he added. The Gaza Strip, which receives its electricity from Israel, Egypt, and its one power plant, has been struggling to produce enough power for months. Earlier this year, the Gaza Strip was reduced to eight hours of electricity per day after its sole power plant shut down because it was unable to afford PA-imposed taxes. In 2012, Egypt stopped pumping Qatari-funded fuel to the Gaza Strip after 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed in an attack in the bordering Sinai Peninsula. more

Increased levels of fuel expected to enter Gaza over the next two days will nearly double the amount of electricity provided to the strip's residents, officials said Wednesday. Around 900,000 liters of fuel will be be pumped into the Gaza Strip's power station over Wednesday and Thursday, the head of the Palestinian energy authority Omar Kittaneh said. The fuel, paired with fuel entering through Egypt, will allow the station to increase productivity to 80 megawatts daily, meaning that Gazans will receive around 18 hours of electricity per day, Kittaneh added. Kittaneh said the increase was possible after Egypt agreed to allow Qatari-funded fuel which has been held Egypt since 2012 to enter Gaza Strip. In 2012, Egypt stopped pumping Qatari-funded fuel to the Gaza Strip after Egyptian authorities accused the Hamas movement of aiding attacks in the neighboring Sinai peninsula. Qatar had funded 20 million liters of fuel in 2012 for Gaza. Around half of the fuel entered the stri...

Gaza's sole power plant will stop running Monday evening as it is unable to cover taxes imposed by the national unity government, Gaza's energy authority said. The unity government waved the tax in a show of good will in the four months to the end of Ramadan, but the Gazan energy authority said in a statement Monday that since the tax has been reinstated it can no longer afford to keep the plant running. The energy authority added that it had only been able cover the cost of maintaining the plant during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and following Eid holiday by borrowing from local companies and taking loans from banks. The tax imposed on fuel before it is sold to Gaza amounts to a 50 percent price hike on the price of fuel per liter, or 3.5 shekels ($0.91), the statement said. Gaza is facing an ongoing energy crisis, with residents of the coastal enclave provided only a fraction of the energy needed. Earlier on Monday, 25 percent of the coastal enclave's energy sup...

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A technical error in Israel cut off two main power grids responsible for supplying Gaza with electricity over the weekend. The down lines provide 25 percent (30 megawatts) of the electricity Israel supplies to Gaza. The Number Eight power grid that provides central Gaza and parts of Khan Younis with electricity shut down three days ago, and the al Qubba power grid for the Gaza District shut down on Sunday. The Gaza Electricity Distribution Company said it is attempting to cooperate with the Palestinian Power Authority to repair the broken grids, but said the Israeli army is obstructing these efforts and allegedly preventing the Israeli Electricity Corporation from fixing the grids on the grounds of security concerns. Technicians were also barred for some time from repairing the al Qubba grid when it shut down in May. Gaza currently receives electricity from the Israel, Egypt, and a power station inside Gaza. However, these supply lines fall far short of the...

Gaza's sole power plant is to be supplied with fuel on Sunday after more than a month-long closure when the Gazan energy authority ran out of funding. Nathmi Muhanna, PA Director of Border Crossings in the Gaza Strip, said that 10 trucks carrying 400,000 liters of fuel would be passing though the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing on Sunday, and that a regular supply of fuel would be resumed during the week. Jamal Dardasawi, a spokesman for Gaza's energy authority, said that while he could not be certain of the plant's energy output until the fuel arrived, it was expected that the company would be able to supply up to eight hours of electricity to Gazan residents after Sunday. On Mar. 2, the Hamas-run energy authority closed the plant after they were unable to afford the taxes demanded by the PA for importing fuel into besieged Gaza. more

Dozens of Gazans protested in front of the Khan Younis district headquarters of the Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation (GEDCo) in the Gaza Strip late Monday. Protesters attempted and failed to reconnect power lines feeding electricity into the city of Khan Younis. Their earlier disconnection caused a blackout across the entire city. A pregnant woman identified as Azza Youssef Najjar was injured and taken to a hospital during the protest, though it is unclear how she was injured. GEDCo, which oversees electricity distribution across the West Bank, redirects power supplied by a power station inside Gaza, the Egyptian electricity grid and the Israeli electric company. However, these supply lines fall far short of the Gazan population's needs. While they provide 230 MW of electricity, Pal-Think, a Gaza-based think tank, has estimated that the Gazan people require 350 to 450 MW. GEDCo describes itself as a privately owned company, jointly owned by the Palestinian Authority ...

The Egyptian Electricity Company has started to ration the amount of electricity feeding the Palestinian city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, a source in the Palestinian electricity distribution company told Al-Resalah reported. A source who spoke to Al-Resalah on condition of anonymity said that one of the three electricity lines feeding Rafah has been completely suspended since Friday, while the electricity supplied through the two other lines has now been rationed. According to the source, only 14 megawatts enter Rafah currently in comparison to 30 megawatts that were supplied previously. This has disrupted the electricity schedule, so the electricity is now available for 12 hours and cut for six hours only. more

The Gaza Strip's sole power plant was shut down on Wednesday evening as Qatari-donated fuel supplies finally ran out, a Gaza power authority said. "The power plant stopped producing electricity during the night, after funds from Qatari donations to cover fuel costs ran out," the Gaza authority said. "We are unable to pay for the fuel because of the taxes on purchasing it." Hamas pays the PA for fuel imported to besieged Gaza, but is short of cash and had been unable to cover the additional costs in tax. In December, Qatar stepped in and donated $10 million to the PA to cover the tax, effectively exempting Hamas from paying it. But that money has dried up, and the PA is insisting Hamas begin paying the tax again, the group says. The plant requires 550,000 liters of fuel per day to produce at capacity, the energy authority says. more

The Energy and Natural Resources of the Palestinian National Authority said, on Thursday, that they had received an official notice from the Israeli power company stating their attention to cut power in areas extending over north and south of the West Bank. The Chief Assistant of the Energy Authority, Zafer Melhem, said that the Israeli company notice included reduction of power loads, provided to the population centers in the Palestinian Authority areas, up to 50%, but did not specify the exact date. The power company has cut off the electricity to a number of areas in Nablus and Jenin twice during this past week, 45 minutes on Monday and an hour on Wednesday, after only one hour of issuing a warning notice in this regard. According to the notice, the current power cut is the "last warning", the Israeli company will cut off electricity in the coming times without any warning. more

The Hamas movement on Sunday morning invited Palestinian parties from across the political spectrum to an emergency meeting to be held in Gaza City at noon to discuss the crises facing the coastal enclave, including electricity and the civil servants dispute. Representing Hamas in the meeting will be deputy chief of the movement's politburo Moussa Abu Marzouq, who is in charge of coordination with other Palestinian factions. The leftist Palestinian People's Party confirmed that the group received an invitation to the meeting from Hamas. Member of the PPP politburo Walid al-Awad told Ma'an that his party had been contacting different parties in an attempt to work out a final solution for the situation in Gaza. He said that the Gaza Strip has been witnessing explosions, robberies, and power cuts amid negligence regarding the people's affairs despite the storm which crossed the country. He added that reconstruction of the war-torn coastal enclave had still not mov...

Belgium issued a strong condemnation of the Israeli destruction of a major power grid in the occupied West Bank which was funded by the country, and serving Khirbet at-Tawil village, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and demanded Israel pay compensation. Last Monday, Israel demolished and removed 70 electricity poles and around 4.5 Kilometers of cables providing electricity to the village. The cost of the destroyed power grid and network is estimated at 55.000 Euros. On Thursday, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders summoned the Israeli Ambassador to condemn the recent Israeli assault, and asked Israel to pay compensation for this destruction. Reynders said that the Israeli violations do not only target Belgian projects in the occupied territories, but also target many projects funded by other countries. Oxfam aid organization said the power network was built in 2007, with Belgian money, and was meant to provide electricity for Palestinian shepherds in the area....

The deputy head of the Palestinian energy authority said Sunday the Turkish offers to provide the Gaza Strip with a floating electricity generator for three months was still in the works. However Fathi Sheikh Khalil said the authorities were still awaiting the necessary permits to send it. Speaking to a news conference, Khail said that the energy authority did not object to the ship docking in Israel or Egypt and would not insist on it being within Gaza's borders. Khalil reiterated that the electricity company managed to return to use 80 percent of the grids that were damaged by the latest Israeli assault on the enclave. more