Union: Gaza Facing Serious Fuel Shortage
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of the Gaza Union of Gas Station Owners has warned that fuel supplies in the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory are running increasingly low, a report said.
Mahmoud al-Shawwa said Gaza's fuel shortage is due to a lack of gasoline coming into the coastal enclave through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing on the border of the southern Gaza Strip, Ma’an news agency reported on Friday.
“There are gas stations in the Gaza Strip that are out of fuel, as the quantities arriving into Gaza are little and the priority is to the power station,” al-Shawwa said.
Al-Shawwa added that while diesel fuel had entered the Gaza Strip recently, the fuel was all sent to the Gaza Power Plant in order to keep the plant running.
The union official said that more diesel is set to enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Due to severe fuel shortages, the Gaza power plant has been operating at approximately half of its capacity (60 out of 120 megawatts) or below, and has been forced to shut down on several occasions.
More than 70 percent of households in Gaza are being supplied with water only six to eight hours once every two to four days, due to insufficient power supply, according to a statement released by the United Nation's Office for Humanitarian Affair in July.
The statement said that since November 2013, humanitarian agencies and donors have spent over $11 million in emergency fuel support to critical service providers.
