Roundup: Power crisis in Gaza keeps various aspects of life paralyzed

The endless growing electricity crisis in the Palestinian Gaza Strip has caused a paralysis in various aspects of life besides the growing heat of the summer.

Palestinian social media activists on Saturday accused the officials both in the West Bank and in Gaza of being responsible for the current growing electricity crisis that made the daily lives extremely hard.

Gaza-based energy corporation announced on Monday that the sole power station that provides electricity to around half of Gaza Strip populations had stopped due to lack of fuels and high taxations imposed on the fuels that are shipped from Israel to the coastal enclave.

Ahmed Abu Alamrien, director of the information center in the Hamas-run energy authorities in Gaza, said in an emailed press statement that taxes imposed on fuels shipped from Israel to Gaza grew more than 40 percent.

He added that the energy authorities were unable to buy new shipment of fuels to operate the power station in Gaza because of the high taxations.

According to Gaza Energy Corporation, the Gaza Strip needs 320 megawatts of electricity every day. The only Gaza power station generates 65 megawatts, Israel provides Gaza with 120 megawatts and Egypt provides 22 megawatts.

There is still a 35 percent shortage of energy in Gaza. With the stop of the power plant, the shortage is getting higher.

The lack of electricity has led to reducing the hours of electricity provided to the houses all over the enclave. The crisis of power in the Gaza Strip has been going on for more than eight years. Every day, there is only 16 hours of power for the population.

Under the current crisis, the time of electricity cutoff has increased from 8 to 12 hours in accordance to a time schedule organized by Gaza Energy Corporation.

"The misery and torture of the populations in the Gaza Strip is illegal and can never be accepted. This is because the politicians in Gaza and in the West Bank are divided and disagreeing on anything," Mustafa Ibrahim, a Gaza rights activist, wrote on his personal Facebook page.

Other activists also mocked Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip.

"After nine years, Gaza populations understand now why Hamas used the slogan 'change and repair' in its campaign during the 2006 parliamentary elections. Now it means changing the electricity time schedule and repairing electricity lines coming from Israel and Egypt," one of the activists said.

While there is no sign to end the energy crisis any soon, some humanitarian organizations warned that the ongoing crisis might have negative consequences on all aspects of life of locals, mainly health, hygiene and education.

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, held the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank responsible for the current power crisis. He said that "it is an inhuman act and it is a big sin that aims at increasing the suffering of the Gaza Strip populations."

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also held the consensus government responsible for the crisis. It said in a press statement that it should send tax-freed fuels to the Gaza Strip regularly and find alternatives to the endless power cutoff.

Various rights groups in the Gaza Strip, including the independent corporation for citizen's rights, said in separate statements that the crisis of power supplies to the Gaza Strip populations was a result of internal disputes and it had to end as soon as possible.

The rights groups called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to intervene and help end the crisis. They also called on the Gaza Energy Corporation to stop the trading of accusations between Gaza and Ramallah. Endit