Turkey helps Gaza to tackle decade-long electricity crisis

A high-ranking Turkish delegation arrived in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday to explore a solution to a 10-year electricity crisis in the enclave, Palestinian officials said.

"The Turkish delegation, which includes experts in electricity visited the main power station in Gaza to see the possibility of operating the station with natural gas instead of fuel," said Abu al-Amrin, an official from the Hamas-run energy authority in Gaza.

Officials in the Palestinian energy corporation in Ramallah said they discussed with the delegation the possibilities of increasing Israeli electricity aid to Gaza by launching a natural gas pipe from Israel to Gaza to operate the power station.

Turkey pledged to enlarge Gaza's electric-power grids and build a water desalination station as well as a large hospital for the enclave.

This commitment was part of a recent agreement between Israel and Turkey on normalizing their political and economic relations.

According to the agreement, Israel would allow the shipment of 11,000 tons of Turkish humanitarian aids to the Gaza Strip.

With a population of 1.88 million, the coastal enclave, that has been controlled and ruled by Islamic Hamas movement since the summer of 2007, needs 480 to 500 megawatts of power on a daily basis. Gaza currently only receives 210 megawatts.

Due to this severe shortage, the Gazans can only have less than 8 hours of electricity a day. Endit