Gaza: The Gaza Strip’s only functioning power plant was out of action on Sunday after running out of fuel, the head of the territory’s electricity provider told AFP.
Samir Metir said that all the plant’s fuel, purchased with funding from Qatar and Turkey, had been used up.
He said it was not clear when the Palestinian territory would receive more, owing to a “dispute” between the electricity authority in Gaza and Palestinian authorities in the West Bank.
The Islamist Hamas movement seized power in Gaza in 2007 from the Ramallah-based Fatah organisation of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
A mooted power-sharing agreement in the Strip has failed to materialise, and Gaza residents have been subjected to a decade-long Israeli blockade severely limiting supplies.
Fuel supply for the Strip’s two million inhabitants has been a long-running source of dispute, with most homes in Gaza receiving two eight-hour periods of electricity a day even when the plant is operating normally.
Protests broke out in January over the power shortages, which the Gaza health ministry warned could have “dangerous consequences” for patients.
As things stand, residents can expect two six-hour periods of electricity, Metir said.
The move comes just days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to take unprecedented steps to end the political and geographical division with the Gaza Strip and to reassume Palestinian National Authority (PNA) control there.
Currently Hamas is part of a unity government with Fatah, but it recently formed its own administrative committee to rule Gaza, angering the Palestinian National Authority.
Analysts speaking to Gulf News say that Abbas will likely pile economic pressure on Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, in order to weaken its grip there.
The Palestinian unity government could cut off all financial assistance to Gaza — it has already slashed the salaries of government employees in Gaza by one-third.
Observers say Gaza faces a massive humanitarian crisis as the PNA would suspend transfers of medicines and health equipment which could lead to many preventable deaths.
The PNA also plans to cut off 670 Gazan families from benefits.
Hamas recently formed its own committee to administer Gaza in a move that infuriated the PNA and deepened political divisions between Gaza and the Occupied West Bank.
“As a result, the PNA decided it was time to cut finances to Gaza since Hamas thought it was the ‘real’ ruler,” Fatah sources told Gulf News.
A PNA delegation is expected to arrive in Gaza “soon” to negotiate with Hamas to hand back control to PNA.
If the negotiations fail, the PNA may take more punitive steps, senior Palestinian security sources told Gulf News.
“Gulf states are backing Abbas. They blame Hamas for failure in achieving reconciliation,” the sources added.
Hamas supporters dismiss Abbas’ threat saying he is only trying to show the US president that he is “tough on Hamas” ahead of an upcoming meeting with Trump.
Hamas took over the Gaza Strip following a brief civil war with the Fatah movement in 2007, which ousted Abbas and his Fatah movement from Gaza.
Since then, Israel has imposed a strict land and maritime siege over the coastal strip.
In 2014, Abbas set up a consensus government under Rami Al Hamdallah, but it has never been able to control Gaza.
