Palestinian Authority: Gas Shortage to be Solved Within 24 Hours

A man waits to collect fuel from a depot selling cooking gas in Gaza City

Bethlehem, 1 Rabiul Akhir 1437/28 January 2016 (MINA) – The severe gas shortage in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip should be solved by Thursday, a Palestinian Authority spokesman said.

Yousef al-Mahmoud told Ma’an on Wednesday that the gas crisis would be solved within 24 hours, after a month of serious shortages due to weather conditions delaying the delivery of gas via ships.

Palestinians living under military occupation have increasingly turned to gas in order to offset the dependence on Israeli electricity, Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) reported, quoting Ma’an News.

The dependence comes despite the discovery of energy resources off the coast of the Gaza Strip and potentially in small pockets in and around the occupied West Bank.

According to a 2014 report from Palestinian rights group al-Haq, there are “potentially eight gas fields off the coast of Gaza, one gas field on the border of the West Bank, and potentially two or more oil fields bordering the northern and southern boundaries of the Gaza Strip.”

The report said there may also be a cluster of gas and oil deposits around the Dead Sea, as well as one potential oil
field near Qalqiliya and another near Hebron.

However, the report noted the dependence of Palestinians under occupation on Israel’s energy sector, as well as Israel’s efforts to prevent Palestinians “from developing their natural gas resources. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)