GAZA CITY: The sole electricity plant in the Gaza Strip stopped working on Thursday because of a lack of fuel, officials said, as concerns grew over worsening humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian enclave.
The closure of the plant, which normally provides around a fifth of Gaza’s electricity, will exacerbate an already critical power shortage.
Gaza’s two million residents receive only around four hours of mains electricity a day.
Mohammed Thabet, spokesman for Gaza’s energy distribution company, said it had been informed by the energy authority the power station stopped functioning at midnight because of the lack of fuel.
Usually the plant provides around 20 megawatts per day using fuel imported from Egypt, but now the only energy is the roughly 120 megawatts of electricity imported from Israel.
“The Gaza Strip needs around 500 megawatts (per day). We have an energy deficit of 380 megawatts,” Thabet said.
The distribution company called in a statement for rapid moves to provide fuel to the plant again.
Last week, the UAE provided financing for fuel for generators at hospitals and other key facilities. Three hospitals and 16 medical centers had stopped offering key services in recent weeks because of the crippling fuel shortages.
The power station has temporarily shut down a number of times in recent years over energy shortages.
It was hit by Israel in previous wars with Hamas that runs the Palestinian territory.
Israel has maintained a blockade on the strip for a decade, saying it is necessary to isolate Hamas, and Egypt has also largely closed its border in recent years.
The internationally recognized Palestinian government, based in the West Bank, has also sought to squeeze rivals Hamas.
Gaza’s only power plant shut over fuel shortage
Gaza’s only power plant shut over fuel shortage
Tunisian police arrest member of parliament who mocked president
- Ahmed Saidani mocked the president in a Facebook post, describing him as the “supreme commander of sewage and rainwater drainage”
TUNIS: Tunisian police arrested lawmaker Ahmed Saidani on Wednesday, two of his colleagues said, in what appeared to be part of an escalating crackdown on critics of President Kais Saied.
Saidani has recently become known for his fierce criticism of Saied. On Tuesday, he mocked the president in a Facebook post, describing him as the “supreme commander of sewage and rainwater drainage,” blasting what he said was the absence of any achievements by Saied.
Saidani was elected as a lawmaker at the end of 2022 in a parliamentary election with very low voter turnout, following Saied’s dissolution of the previous parliament and dismissal of the government in 2021.
Saied has since ruled by decree, moves the opposition has described as a coup.
Most opposition leaders, some journalists and critics of Saied, have been imprisoned since he seized control of most powers in 2021.
Activists and human rights groups say Saied has cemented his one-man rule and turned Tunisia into an “open-air prison” in an effort to suppress his opponents. Saied denies being a dictator, saying he is enforcing the law and seeking to “cleanse” the country.
Once a supporter of Saied’s policies against political opponents, Saidani has become a vocal critic in recent months, accusing the president of seeking to monopolize all decision-making while avoiding responsibility, leaving others to bear the blame for problems.
Last week, Saidani also mocked the president for “taking up the hobby of taking photos with the poor and destitute,” sarcastically adding that Saied not only has solutions for Tunisia but claims to have global approaches capable of saving humanity.
Under Tunisian law, lawmakers enjoy parliamentary immunity and cannot be arrested for carrying out their duties, although detention is allowed if they are caught committing a crime.
