Salaam,
FYI:
By Ola Attallah, IOL Correspondent
GAZA CITY — After long, blooded days of Israeli strikes and raids, the besieged Gaza Strip is now sinking in total darkness over Israel's blocking of fuel and power supplies.
"The Gaza Strip's power plants have already been paralyzed by 55 percent," Kanaan Ebeid, the deputy head of the Palestinian Energy Authority in the Gaza Strip, told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, January 20.
Gaza's sole power plant shut down one of its two remaining working turbines early in the morning after an Israeli closure blocked shipments of fuel.
"By evening, the entire Strip will sink into darkness," noted Ebied.
He warned that the Gaza Power Plant, which provides a third of the territory's power, does not even have fuel reserves to operate the two turbines in emergency cases.
"The Israeli occupation did not send a drop of fuel over the past two days."
Israel has been completely sealing off the impoverished coastal territory for the third consecutive day blocking fuel shipments.
At its weekly Sunday meeting, the Israeli cabinet decided to keep the lockdown in place for the time being "to keep up the pressure."
Gaza's population ordinarily consumes 200 megawatts of electricity, of which 65 are produced by the local power plant.
In addition to the fuel it receives from Israel to power its electrical plant, Gaza gets about two-thirds of its electricity directly from Israel.
Disaster Zone
Children took to the streets, pleading for an end to the blockade. (Reuters)
Ebeid warned that the power outage will have grave consequences on hospitals, bakeries and water cleaning stations.
Fayiz Abu Shammaleh, mayor of the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, said if the fuel stoppage continued they would have to stop collecting garbage, pumping water and treating sewage, instead pouring waste directly into the Mediterranean.
The cutback comes amid the peak winter demand for electricity and after seven months of tightened restrictions on the movement of goods and people in and out of the territory.
People in the Strip, home to more than 1.6 million, were out to stock up on batteries and candles as well as basic foods like rice, flour and cooking oil.
Dozens of people were seen lining outside a bakery in downtown Gaza, fearing the electricity cutoff would lead to a bread shortage.
Human rights activists are cautioning of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
"Gaza has become a disaster zone," Gamal Al-Khodiri, the head of the Popular Committee to Combat the Blockade, told IOL.
He urged the international community and human rights organizations to immediately intervene.
"Why are they dragging their feet?" he fumed.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said the shutdown of the station would have "a devastating impact."
"Depriving people of such basics as water is tantamount to depriving them of human dignity," said UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness.
"It is difficult to understand the logic of making hundreds of thousands of people suffer quite needlessly."
Israel has launched an open-ended military aggression on the Strip, killing up to 36 people, including children and women, over the past week.
Gaza Strip is already reeling under a crippling US-led Western economic boycott that left its economy on the verge of collapse.
Dozens of Palestinian children took to the streets of Gaza City Sunday, pleading for an end to the blockade.
"End the blockade" and "Stop killing children," they chanted.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/...79749773&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
FYI:
By Ola Attallah, IOL Correspondent
GAZA CITY — After long, blooded days of Israeli strikes and raids, the besieged Gaza Strip is now sinking in total darkness over Israel's blocking of fuel and power supplies.
"The Gaza Strip's power plants have already been paralyzed by 55 percent," Kanaan Ebeid, the deputy head of the Palestinian Energy Authority in the Gaza Strip, told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, January 20.
Gaza's sole power plant shut down one of its two remaining working turbines early in the morning after an Israeli closure blocked shipments of fuel.
"By evening, the entire Strip will sink into darkness," noted Ebied.
He warned that the Gaza Power Plant, which provides a third of the territory's power, does not even have fuel reserves to operate the two turbines in emergency cases.
"The Israeli occupation did not send a drop of fuel over the past two days."
Israel has been completely sealing off the impoverished coastal territory for the third consecutive day blocking fuel shipments.
At its weekly Sunday meeting, the Israeli cabinet decided to keep the lockdown in place for the time being "to keep up the pressure."
Gaza's population ordinarily consumes 200 megawatts of electricity, of which 65 are produced by the local power plant.
In addition to the fuel it receives from Israel to power its electrical plant, Gaza gets about two-thirds of its electricity directly from Israel.
Disaster Zone
Children took to the streets, pleading for an end to the blockade. (Reuters)
Ebeid warned that the power outage will have grave consequences on hospitals, bakeries and water cleaning stations.
Fayiz Abu Shammaleh, mayor of the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, said if the fuel stoppage continued they would have to stop collecting garbage, pumping water and treating sewage, instead pouring waste directly into the Mediterranean.
The cutback comes amid the peak winter demand for electricity and after seven months of tightened restrictions on the movement of goods and people in and out of the territory.
People in the Strip, home to more than 1.6 million, were out to stock up on batteries and candles as well as basic foods like rice, flour and cooking oil.
Dozens of people were seen lining outside a bakery in downtown Gaza, fearing the electricity cutoff would lead to a bread shortage.
Human rights activists are cautioning of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
"Gaza has become a disaster zone," Gamal Al-Khodiri, the head of the Popular Committee to Combat the Blockade, told IOL.
He urged the international community and human rights organizations to immediately intervene.
"Why are they dragging their feet?" he fumed.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said the shutdown of the station would have "a devastating impact."
"Depriving people of such basics as water is tantamount to depriving them of human dignity," said UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness.
"It is difficult to understand the logic of making hundreds of thousands of people suffer quite needlessly."
Israel has launched an open-ended military aggression on the Strip, killing up to 36 people, including children and women, over the past week.
Gaza Strip is already reeling under a crippling US-led Western economic boycott that left its economy on the verge of collapse.
Dozens of Palestinian children took to the streets of Gaza City Sunday, pleading for an end to the blockade.
"End the blockade" and "Stop killing children," they chanted.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/...79749773&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
