Gaza’s power plant is shutting down on Sunday for lack of fuel. Gaza is totally dependent on Israel for the fuel supplies that run the power plant, but military-ordered fuel cuts in place since 28 October because of Palestinian firing of Qassam rockets into Israel have completely depleted the plant’s useable reserves.
After last week’s fighting in Gaza, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered a complete closure of border crossings where vital humanitarian supplies, including the industrial diesel fuel needed to operate the power plant, are transferred into Gaza.
Now, there is no available fuel to run the Gaza power plant.
One of two-remaining turbines was shut down on Sunday morning, and the last one will be powered down at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday night.
AFP reported Sunday afternoon that “The Israeli cabinet decided to keep the lockdown in place for the time being at its weekly government meeting on Sunday, officials said. ‘The ministers discussed the ongoing closure during the cabinet meeting, but decided to keep up the pressure’, a senior government official told AFP … Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the crossings into Gaza closed late Thursday, saying the move was aimed at pressuring militants inside to stop firing rockets and mortars into Israel and that it would be reassessed. ‘We cannot keep the border crossings open while rockets fall on our towns and while Israelis posted at these crossings are themselves targeted in these attacks’, a defence ministry spokesman said in explaining the move. On Sunday, Barak told the cabinet that the army was ‘weakening the daily life in Gaza’. ‘We are targeting the terror elements and we are trying to show the international community that we are exhausting all possible options before Israel decides on a broad (military) operation’, a senior government official quoted him as saying … On Saturday Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called for ‘international protection’ for Gaza residents and criticised anew the firing of rockets into Israel which he said ‘only brought misfortune… for our people’.” This AP report is published here.