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Power crisis threatens already fragile situation in Gaza

As the power outage crisis in the Gaza Strip for more than 20 hours per day paralyzes all health care and economic sectors, Gazans await for Israel to allow fuel to enter the enclave to operate their only power plant.
Palestinian electricity company workers inspect power installations in the town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on June 25, 2019. - Israel blocked fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip today, citing new incendiary balloons from the Palestinian enclave.
Lacking natural resources, the Gaza Strip suffers from a chronic shortage of water, electricity and petrol. More than two-thirds of the population depends on humanitarian aid. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)        (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP via

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Khamis Murad, 61, needs regular dialysis treatment sessions at Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City of four continuous hours. But during his last session, the machine suddenly stopped after less than two hours, due to a power cut at the hospital.

In an Aug. 18 press statement, the spokesman for the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO) in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Thabet, announced that electricity supply to homes and establishments in Gaza dropped to three to four hours a day, with more than 20 hours of blackouts. The previous distribution schedule was rationed around eight hours of supply versus eight hours of power outage.

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