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 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

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 (Ma'an) -- The Gazan energy authority has announced that Gaza's sole power plant will stopping running on Saturday due to fuel shortages. In a statement issued on Friday the authority blamed the Palestinian petroleum authority in Ramallah for reducing the plant's fuel share. The statement accused the General Petroleum Corporation of preventing the delivery of petrol to Gaza on unreasonable pretexts, ignoring all national and humanitarian considerations, and "deplorably blackmailing" the Gaza Strip. The statement said that they had only been able to purchase enough fuel from local suppliers to keep the plant running for one more day. The plant was shut down for a month earlier this year after the Gazan energy authority was unable to afford the taxes demanded by the PA for importing fuel into besieged Gaza. In December last year, Qatar had paid $10 million to the Palestinian Authority to cover the tax, effectively exempting the Gazan authorities from paying...

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 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

Gaza's only power plant is due to shut down by the end of this week as donor funding for fuel in the coastal territory has run out, officials said. The energy and natural resource authority told Ma'an that the power plant had been using a Qatari grant to pay for diesel fuel to maintain operations. Gaza's sole power station, which was damaged during the war, is struggling with a severe lack of fuel and is only able to supply the enclave with six hours of power per day. In July, Amnesty International said that there could be no justification for "targeting a civilian structure that provides crucial services to so many civilians." "The strike on the power plant, which cut off electricity and running water to Gaza's 1.8 million residents and numerous hospitals has catastrophic humanitarian implications and is very likely to amount to a war crime," Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, said. more

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

Most of Gaza is currently operating on six hours of electricity per day, the Strip's power authority said in a statement Saturday. The Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority will be able to continue supplying Gaza with that amount of power each day for another two months, "unless the company is targeted by Israeli attacks again," the statement said. Meanwhile, the Authority will begin working on a new power line running from an Israeli power company to the northern Gaza Strip to provide 35 additional megawatts of electricity. The statement said that priority for electricity will always be given to hospitals, civil institutions, and sewage treatment plants in order to provide essential services to Gaza residents. Gaza's sole power plant came under Israeli shelling on July 29, and as a result of stopped functioning. The damage will take up to a year to fix, the Authority has said. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza Strip's sole power plant shut down due to a large fire caused by Israeli shelling on Tuesday morning, after at least 40 were killed in a series of Israeli strikes from land, air, and sea since midnight. The strikes brought the death toll in Gaza to 1,128, with more than 6,200 injured in 22 days of Israeli assault, as the Israeli military said it launched strikes on 70 "targets" across the Strip. The military also announced its deadliest 24 hours since the beginning of the conflict, with 10 soldiers killed on Monday alone, bringing the total to 53. The military admitted early Tuesday that five Israeli soldiers had been killed in a Palestinian militant attack through a tunnel into the southern Israeli area of Nahal Oz on Monday afternoon, after al-Qassam Brigades had claimed 10 dead. more

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Officials at the Gaza Strip power plant announced Monday that they are no longer able to provide electricity for eight hours per day. The company said in a statement that it was “doing its utmost” to provide power for water wells, sewage plants, hospitals and medical centers to prevent any humanitarian or environmental disaster. The statement called upon all concerned parties to increase the available amount of electricity. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza Strip's sole power plant is expected to shut down Tuesday after the last shipment of Qatar-donated fuel runs out, Gaza's power authority said. Fathi Sheikh Khalil, the deputy chairperson of Gaza's power authority, said that the plant would run out of fuel Tuesday. Gaza will then depend on 140 megawatts of electricity from Israel and 20 megawatts from Egypt, only a third of the electricity needed to power the Strip, Khalil said. He said the Gaza power authority had contacted the newly-formed national consensus government seeking a solution to the power crisis, but that nothing had been done so far. Qatar had in March agreed to continue to donate money to fuel Gaza's power plant for three months. more

GAZA CITY (AFP) -- Gaza's sole power station will not resume operations until Monday, despite Israel reopening a crossing to fuel deliveries, the deputy chief of the Gaza energy authority said on Sunday. Officials had said Israel would allow the resumption of diesel deliveries into Gaza on Sunday, a day after the Palestinian territory's power plant stopped working because of a lack of fuel. "The central power station will resume operations at 06:00 a.m." on Monday, Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil told AFP. "We were expecting the delivery today (Sunday) of 500,000 liters of fuel, but the delivery has been delayed, and only 100,000 liters have been delivered," he said. "We should receive 500,000 liters tomorrow." more

GAZA CITY (AFP) -- The Gaza Strip's only power plant shut down Saturday due to a lack of fuel from Israel, which closed a goods crossing after militant rocket attacks, the energy authority said. "The plant has completely ceased to function due to a lack of fuel caused by (Israel's) closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing," said Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil, deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas. On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon ordered the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza and the Erez pedestrian crossing "until further security assessments." In response, Khalil said, the energy authority cut the plant's operation from only 12 hours a day to six until the fuel ran out. more

GAZA, (PIC)-- Popular Committee against the Siege warned of a real humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip due to the closure of Karm Abu Salem crossing, southern Gaza, and the prevention of entry of fuel to run the power plant. MP Jamal al-Khudari, at a news conference held in front of the power plant on Saturday afternoon, warned of an imminent disaster threatening the health sector in Gaza, and said: "Many patients are likely to die at any moment due to the closure of Karm Abu Salem crossing and the lack of fuel." He added that the telecommunications sector will also face a big problem and that the Gaza Strip will be isolated from the outside world, as the telecommunications companies will stop working. Head of the Popular Committee noted that 80% of Gaza factories stopped working while the rest are now working partially, adding that "the sector has become unable to export its products to Europe." He considered the closure of the crossings with the Gaza Stri...