Gaza City plunged into darkness

Hasan Qwider

The only power plant in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip has shut down because of a lack of fuel,
Palestinian officials say, blaming Israeli
restrictions.

Cars were still driving along Gaza
City's darkened streets

Gaza City was plunged into darkness
after the plant's turbines stopped.

Israel's closure of border crossings amid
continued rocket fire from Gaza has brought
the delivery of almost all supplies, including fuel,
to a halt.

But Israel, which provides 60% of Gaza's power,
says the territory still has sufficient fuel stocks.

The UN says Gaza's 1.5m inhabitants face
serious hardship.

Reports from Gaza say people are trying to
stock up on candles and batteries, as well
as basic foodstuffs.

One grocer in Gaza City, Sami Mousa, told
the Associated Press the shopping fever would
be worse except that "people don't have the
money to buy".

'Running out'

GAZA'S ELECTRICITY SOURCES

Gaza uses 200 megawatts of
electricity annually

Israel supplies 60% of this,
and Egypt 8%

The remaining 32% is produced
by Gaza's power station

Israel supplies the fuel oil for the
Gaza power station

"We have just shut down the entire power plant,"
Derar Abu Sissi, a senior official at the Gaza plant,
said on Sunday night.

A number of residents began a candle-lit
march through Gaza City after the blackout.

The Palestinian Energy Authority (PEA)
had begun shutting the plant's turbines early in the morning.

The plant's director, Rafik Maliha, said earlier
that the regular fuel delivery from Israel had not
arrived because the fuel terminal, Nahal Oz, was
closed and the facility had almost no reserves.

The PEA said power outages would hit hospitals,
sewage works and food refrigeration systems.

The closure comes amid the peak winter demand
for electricity.

Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the UN relief
agency UNWRA, predicted the closure of the power
station would "have a significant impact on the daily
lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza".

Most Gazans are reliant on fuel
imports and humanitarian supplies.

One pharmacist in Gaza, Maher Abu
Halawa, told the BBC he was quickly
running out of supplies.

"All this affects patients, especially the diabetes
patients whose medicine has completely run out,
" he said.

"Medications needed for cancer patients have
also run out completely... We have also run out
of children's medications, particularly vaccines."

'No shortage'

Israel says border closures will stop
if the rocket attacks end

Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for Israel's
defence ministry, insisted the power station
had enough fuel to continue functioning.

"If they shut it down, it's not because of a fuel shortage,
but because they want to create the impression of a crisis,"
he said.

He described the closure of the power station as
"not comfortable but not a humanitarian crisis".

Israel, which shut the borders on Thursday, has
reduced the flow of petrol used in cars and diesel
to the strip but says fuel oil and cooking gas are
not affected.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said
the border closures were intended to apply pressure
to the Palestinian authorities to stop militants in
Gaza firing rockets at Israel.

"If they stop the rockets today, everything would
go back to normal," he said.

More than 200 rockets and mortars have hit Israel
from Gaza since an Israeli operation against
militants on Tuesday which left 18 Palestinians
dead, the military says.

Israeli ministers meeting on Sunday decided to
maintain the border closure for the time being,
an unnamed source told AFP news agency.

Hamas said its attacks on Israel would not
cease because of the sanctions.

"We will not raise the white flag and we will not
surrender," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the
London-based independent Quds Press web
news agency.

Hasan Qwaider