Gaza's only power station closes

[RedZero]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17028000

The authorities in Gaza say the Palestinian territory's only power station has shut down because of a lack of fuel.

The closure is believed to be caused by a shortage in fuel being supplied through smuggling tunnels from Egypt.

Power cuts, already common, are expected to increase. The station provides around 30-40% of Gaza's electricity.

The rest of the electricity used by the territory is supplied by Israel.

The Gaza Power Company said the strip would soon be "swimming in a sea of darkness".

Supplies of fuel smuggled into the territory have diminished due to the recent Egyptian political unrest.

Many families and businesses have private generators to avoid the blackouts. But fuel for those is also hard to come by.

This week long queues can be seen outside petrol stations with people worried about filling up their cars.

A statement from the power station called on Egypt to allow more fuel to pass through the tunnels. It also blamed Israel's continuing blockade of the Palestinian territory.

Israel and Egypt imposed sanctions on Gaza after the Islamist movement Hamas came to power in 2007.

Last year Egypt eased restrictions allowing people to travel more easily, but all legal trade is still forbidden and the tunnel industry continues to thrive.

[RedZero]

This makes the 5th day, and hospitals have declared a state of emergency according to this Twitter account: https://twitter.com/#!/GazaYBO

[RedZero]

Gaza's Ministry of Health to declare state of emergency - http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3435-gazas-ministry-of-health-to-declare-state-of-emergency

The Palestinian Minister of Health in Gaza, Dr Bassem Naim, is to declare a state of emergency in Gaza's hospitals due to acute power cuts and fuel shortages.

In a press conference held on Thursday, February 16, at the al-Shifa Medical Compound, Dr Naim said that Gaza's health ministry was on the verge of declaring a state of emergency in light of the continued crisis. This critical lack of electricity in the Strip threatens to bring a halt to vital medical services. Other pubic services such as water pumps and sanitation have also been badly hit by the power outages.

The on-going crisis has seriously impacted on incubators at the al-Shifa hospital's neonatal unit where more than a 100 children are cared for. Also affected are the kidney units which provide medical services to more than 400 patients, as well as surgical units, blood banks and other emergency departments.

The health crisis in Gaza is further compounded by the severe shortage of 350 different types of medicines in hospitals.

The Health Minister called for an immediate intervention to restore fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip. He appealed to the Egyptian leadership and parliament - the People's Assembly - to provide the necessary fuel to Gaza and to work toward resolving this recurrent problem.

[Prometeo liberado]

The western media will keep obfuscating this story or use it to "prove" that Palestine can not function as a state, or even a territory, with Hamas in charge. Genocide looks much like this.
Could this be an attempt to weaken Hamas before the start of conflict with Iran?

[Os Cangaceiros]

This is sick.

[Joseph S.]

i'm lazy(stoned)

Cant think of any thing to say about this,whit out being labeled a self hating Jew so i'l post some drawings.
http://www.timesofummah.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/gaza-ghetto-bigger.jpg
http://normanfinkelstein.com/img/photos/latuff/CombatBoots_BeitHanoun112006.jpg
http://peoplesgeography.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/latuff_gaza.jpg

[RedZero]

"Report: Egypt, Hamas agree to link electricity grids to end electricity crisis in Gaza" - http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=259156

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh signs three-stage deal with Egypt to end Gaza's energy crisis.

Egypt and Hamas reached an energy agreement Thursday to help end the energy crisis in Gaza, and that will ultimately connect Gaza's electricity grid to Egypt's, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported.

According to Ma'an, Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu said Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh struck a deal with Egyptian officials and the Islamic Development Bank after "intensive negotiations."

The deal, to be implemented in three stages, begins with Egyptian companies pumping fuel into Gaza under contracts signed with individual companies.

In the next stage, the Islamic Development Bank will fund projects to increase the capacity of Gaza's only power plant by 40 megawatts.

Finally, Gaza will connect its electricity grid to Egypt's and convert the power plant to run on gas instead of diesel.

Egypt decided to let more fuel into Gaza (http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=258753) and increase the amount of electricity it supplies to the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, a move aimed at easing a power crisis that has embarrassed the ruling Hamas movement.

The Egyptian government said the amount of electricity supplied to Gaza would be increased to 22 megawatts from an existing 17 megawatts already supplied for free. In addition, emergency diesel would also be supplied.

"The increase comes in the framework of a quick attempt to relieve the suffering of the Palestinian people," Hassan Younes, the Egyptian minister responsible for electricity and power, said in a statement.

Gaza depends heavily on fuel smuggled in from Egypt to keep its lone power station on line. But supplies were unexpectedly cut last week, forcing Hamas, which runs the coastal territory largely cut off by Israel, to impose lengthy blackouts.

Many locals have accused Hamas of mismanaging the situation, relying too heavily on smuggled fuel, which it taxes heavily, rather than seeking alternative sources of energy via legal channels on which it could not impose levies.

The crisis enabled the Palestinian Authority to intervene with Egypt and broker a deal.

Gaza's energy supply is bad at the best of times, with a rickety infrastructure system badly degraded during fighting over the past five years between Israel and Hamas, which is committed to destroying the Jewish state.

There has been widespread anger across Gaza over the recent blackouts, with electricity available just six hours a day during one of the coldest weeks of the year. There has also been a severe shortage of diesel for cars.

Hamas suspended imports of fuel for the power plant from Israel last year and instead relied on smuggled stock, and was totally unprepared for sudden halt to supplies from Egypt.

[Bostana]

So Israel claims the Gaza Strip to still be part of Israel, but Israel funds them worth shit

[RedZero]

Red Cross donates fuel supplies for Gaza hospitals - http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-02/24/c_131428224.htm

GENEVA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday donated 150,000 liters of diesel to 13 public hospitals in Gaza to help maintain essential health services.

Gaza has faced continuous shortages of electricity in the past few years. The situation worsened when the only power station in the Gaza Strip was shut down last week, forcing hospitals to rely on generators for up to 18 hours a day.

Insufficient to fill the huge energy gap, the donated diesel is only enough to sustain power supplies of these hospitals for about 10 days.

The ICRC is calling on authorities to take necessary steps to resolve the power shortage before it leads to even more serious consequences.

[RedZero]

Gaza Electricity Crisis ‘Not Solved’ - http://www.eurasiareview.com/25022012-gaza-electricity-crisis-not-solved/

The Gaza Strip has not received enough fuel to resume normal electricity levels, a Gaza energy official told Ma’an on Saturday.

Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu said on Thursday that the Gaza government had reached a deal with Egyptian authorities to end the electricity crisis that closed Gaza’s sole power plant last week, plunging Gaza into up to 18 hour blackouts per day.

But Gaza energy authority director Ahmad Abu al-Amreen said there has been no change in the situation and the authority is still using the same limited pool of fuel. Egypt says it has delivered emergency fuel to Gaza amid the crisis, but the promised deal did not appear to solve the problem of regular supplies.

The deal as described by al-Nunu includes longer-term measures to increase the capacity of the power plant and link Gaza’s electricity grid to Egyptian infrastructure. The shorter-term requirement is the delivery of fuel into Gaza, but a disagreement on the route of the fuel still appeared to be pending agreement.

Egypt wants to stop the use of underground tunnels for delivery of Egyptian fuel purchased by Palestinian authorities, and has severely reduced supply through the tunnel network, prompting the current crisis.

The Gaza government is pressing for the Rafah terminal between the countries to be equipped for fuel transfer, and is reluctant to accept fuel to be delivered via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

The government fears Israel will use control of supplies to squeeze the coastal strip. Israel severely restricts the movement of people and goods from the Gaza Strip since it tightened a blockade on the territory in 2007.

However, Rafah currently is only fitted for passengers, and its development is restricted by an agreement between Egypt, Israel and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

“We are still waiting for the Egyptian agreement to let fuel enter Gaza officially and legally,” Abu al-Amreen told Ma’an.

“If fuel was allowed in Gaza in the next few hours, it will help to operate the whole energy situation. This will not end the crisis but will bring it back to where it was before the lack of the fuel.”

[RedZero]

Still not solved... http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/2012315195011433975.html