Gaza's sole power plant shuts over lack of fuel: spokesman

Palestine

Published: 2022-08-07 15:14

Last Updated: 2024-03-26 15:31


Gaza's sole power plant shuts over lack of fuel: spokesman
Gaza's sole power plant shuts over lack of fuel: spokesman

Gaza's sole power plant shut down on Saturday after running out of fuel, an electricity company spokesman said, five days after the Israeli Occupation closed its goods crossing with Palestine.

“The power plant in Gaza has stopped (working) due to the fuel shortage,” said Mohammed Thabet, spokesman for the electricity company.

The power station has gone without fuel deliveries through the Israel Occupation since the country shut its goods and people crossings with Gaza on Tuesday.

The electricity supply is expected to plummet to just four hours a day, Thabet said.

Diesel for the power plant is usually trucked in from Egypt or the Israeli Occupation.

Israeli Occupation's closure of its crossings with Gaza came as the military braced for reprisals following the arrest of two senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement earlier on Saturday, Gaza's electricity company said the shutdown “will affect all public utilities and crucial installations and exacerbate the humanitarian situation.”

The company called on “all parties to urgently intervene and allow the entrance of fuel deliveries for the power plant to work.”

Gaza's 2.3 million residents experience regular power shortages and last week received only an average of 10 hours of electricity per day, according to data from the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA.