Thousands of Gazans have been left without electricity following Israel’s suspension of fuel shipments to the Hamas-controlled territory’s only power plant.
The power station was shut down on Monday evening after Israel refused to restart deliveries, despite warnings that fuel supplies were almost exhausted.
About 800,000 of the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million residents lost power when the plant was shut down, the official from the territory’s sole power plant said.
An EU official said the power plant was running very low on fuel. The facility uses a special type of industrial fuel, not regular diesel. The EU’s last shipment was made on Nov 4.
Late on Monday, Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, revised his decision to keep the crossing completely sealed and authorised a "limited resumption" of supplies to the Gaza Strip.
The partial resumption of fuel shipments, expected to begin on Tuesday at 06:00 GMT, followed a request by Tony Blair, former UK prime minister and envoy of the Middle East Quartet – comprising the European Union, the US, Russia and the United Nations.
Fighters said they fired the rockets in response to an Israeli raid that killed six fighters on Nov. 4, but no damge.
Israel increased its economic and military siege of the Gaza Strip.
Under the terms of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, Israel has to lift some restrictions on aid but humanitarian groups say conditions in the coastal enclave continue to deteriorate.
Agencies
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