GAZA’S ONLY POWER PLANT SHUT DOWN

The only power plant in the blockaded Gaza Strip has completely shut down because it has run out of fuel, the Vice President of the Palestinian Energy Authority announced on April 9. “The four generators at the power station stopped after the industrial diesel they needed to operate ran out,” said Kanaan Obaid. Obaid added that the power station used to provide 60 megawatts of power across the Gaza Strip, but after its failure half of the cities in the region will suffer from blackouts. As a temporary solution, he said that the electricity company in Gaza would depend on a power feed coming from Israel. Israel currently supplies approximately 13 per cent of power for Gaza residents, but Obaid said he hoped the country would increase that to 50 per cent. Power shortages have plagued the only station in Gaza during the ongoing blockade imposed by Israeli authorities on the Gaza Strip after the Hamas movement took control of the territory in June 2007.