GAZA CITY, Palestine
The Gaza Strip’s only functioning power plant is set to resume operations following a one-week hiatus due to a lack of fuel, according to a Palestinian official.
“Around 150,000 liters of fuel has entered the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing [which links the strip to Israel and Egypt],” Palestinian border chief Nazmi Mehanna told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
According to the Gaza Strip’s Energy and Natural Resources Authority, the plant – used to generate electricity for the strip’s almost two million inhabitants – will soon come online again at eight-hours-on, eight-hours-off.
On Tuesday, the Ramallah-based Palestinian unity government announced that the plant would remain exempt from paying fuel taxes until August.
The move came following an earlier dispute over fuel taxes, which the cash-strapped Gaza Strip – still groaning under a years-long Israeli-Egyptian blockade – can ill afford.
