By Xinhua
Gaza : Palestinian official warned on Monday that Israel threatens to reduce deliveries of Gaza power station’s fuel and to diminish electricity amounts of electricity which provides to Gaza via cables next week.
Every week, the only power plant in Gaza needs 3.5 million liters of industrial diesel to run. Nowadays, Israel allows 2.2 million liters into the station and threatens to reduce this amount from February the 8th, said Mahmoud al-Khozendar, deputy director of Gaza petrol station owners’ union.
From January this year, Israel has boosted its blockade on Gaza, which started in last June when Hamas took over the territory, by applying more cuts on fuel supplies in response to the continuation of rocket attacks against its southern territories.
A week ago, Israel’s High Court approved the cutbacks, saying the current amounts of fuel deliveries are enough to prevent a humanitarian crisis.
According to al-Khozendar, Israel will reduce more gasoline and diesel amounts that go for humanitarian use and for Gaza’s service stations.
In the meantime, Israel allows 750,000 liters of gasoline into Gaza a week but the densely populated enclave needs 840,000 liters a week.
For the diesel, the Gazans need 350,000 liters a day and Israel only allows 850,000 liters a week. Only 120 tons of cooking gas enter Gaza everyday while the residents use 120 tons a day.
“We, the petrol stations owners, refuse to receive these amounts because they only serve limited sectors and prevent many other sectors from having fuel,” al-Khozendar said, explaining that the bakeries, food reservation centers, fishermen and universities don’ t have the opportunity to get their needs from the reduced fuel shipments.