Egypt Supplies Fuel For Gaza to Ease Electricity Crisis

Pictured Above: The flag of Egypt. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

 

(JNS.org) Egypt has supplied the Gaza Strip with 1 million liters (220,000 gallons) of diesel fuel to address a growing electricity crisis amid a dispute between the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Gaza-ruling terror group Hamas.

“There will still be troubles, but not the maximum troubles. Re-running the power plant is better than keeping it shut down,” said Fathi Sheikh Khalil, who heads the Hamas-run energy authority, The Associated Press reported. 

Egypt’s delivery came after Israel, at the request of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, began reducing the electricity it supplies to Gaza to 88 megawatts of power per day, down from 120 earlier this week. The Egyptian fuel is expected to provide 50 megawatts of power per day to make up for the recent shortfall, but will only represent a temporarily fix, since Gaza needs roughly 400 megawatts to meet its daily energy needs. 

The deal to provide the diesel fuel to Gaza was brokered by Mohammed Dahlan, the PA’s former Gaza chief, who had a rupture with Abbas in 2011 and is seeking a comeback in Palestinian politics. 

“Our relationship with Egypt is getting better and Egypt showed high understandings of the crisis in Gaza,” said Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, according to The Associated Press. “We agreed with Dahlan’s group on finding solutions to the humanitarian crisis.”