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Will Turkey succeed in resolving Gaza’s power crisis?

Turkey is working to resolve the Gaza Strip's energy crisis as part of an economic projects package included in Turkey's reconciliation deal with Israel.
A Palestinian woman hangs a torch inside her house during power cuts at Shatti (beach) refugee camp in Gaza City September 15, 2015. Power has been provided to different areas in the impoverished coastal territory in six-hour shifts as Gaza's lone power plant shut its generators on Saturday due to a fuel shortage, energy officials said. Electricity is also supplied to the Gaza grid through power lines from Israel and Egypt. Gaza's plant provides electricity to two-thirds of its population. REUTERS/Mohammed

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — After failing to persuade Israel to lift its siege on the Gaza Strip, Turkey is taking steps to help Gaza resolve its 10-year-old electricity crisis.

In exchange for normalizing relations with Israel in June, Turkey pledged to provide an economic projects package to Palestinians that includes establishing a power plant in Gaza. Toward that end, a delegation of eight Turkish energy experts, accompanied by Turkey's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mustafa Sarnic, arrived July 12 in Gaza to be briefed on the electricity crisis by the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA) and to study proposed solutions.

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