Power Station in Gaza Suspends it’s Work Due to Fuel Shortage
Gaza, MINA – The Palestinian Energy Authority in the Gaza Strip announced the suspension of the only power plant at 12 pm today, Saturday, local time, for not being able to supply fuel to the station, due to the continued closure of the Israeli occupation of the Karam Abu Salem crossing.
The Israeli occupation authorities suddenly announced Friday afternoon that they would enter quantities of fuel for the station, but they did not enter the fuel.
This came before the Israeli aggression on Gaza began targeting the military leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in the northern region, Tayseer Al -Jabari, and other Palestinian citizens.
With the power authority announcing to extinguish the power station, the electricity available in Gaza will become 120 megawatts, while two million Palestinians live in besieged Gaza need more than 500 megawatts.
It is expected that the electricity distribution schedule in Gaza will be 4 hours available and 12 hours unavailable which will lead to more difficulties in the lives of Palestinians.
The Energy Authority said in a statement, “Because of the current circumstances, and the inability to supply fuel to the station, the station will be stopped on Saturday afternoon.”
Last Tuesday, Israel closed the Karam Abu Salem Commercial crossing, south of the Gaza Strip, as part of its measures preparing for the Islamic jihad’s response to the arrest of the leader of Bassam Al -Saadi in the West Bank, on Monday evening.
Rafik Maliha, the general manager of the Gaza power station, had previously warned of the consequences of not entering the fuel to the power station through the Karam Abu Salem crossing.
On Friday, the Israeli occupation army said that it began its military operation on Gaza Strip, which, according to the Ministry of Health, led to the killing of 12 Palestinians, including a child.
The power station in Gaza is not available to store large quantities of fuel needed to operate it.
The Gaza Strip is suffering mainly from a major crisis in electricity supplies since 2006.
At the present time, the hours of electricity in Gaza reach about 6 hours compared to 12 hours of cutting, while the volume of electric power request in Gaza ranges between 500 – 550 megawatts. The availability of the power is about 60 megawatts, while about 120 megawatts are being purchased from Israel. (LKG/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
