Israeli authorities partially opened the Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Israel and Gaza on Friday to allow cooking gas and diesel into the besieged coastal enclave.
Head of the gas committee at the Owners of Fuel Companies Organization, Samir Hamadeh, told Ma’an that 600,000 liters of diesel and 120 tons of cooking gas would be allowed into the Gaza Strip on Friday via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The crossing was opened last month for the entry of gas and diesel into Gaza, amidst heightening tensions over a dire electricity crisis that left the majority of the Gaza Strip with only three hours of power a day in between 12-hour blackouts for more than a week earlier this month, with recent Qatari aid helping to bring back the Palestinian territory to its usual schedule of eight hours of electricity followed by eight hours without.
Even at full capacity, Egyptian and Israeli electricity grids, together with Gaza’s sole power plant, fail to cover the Gaza Strip’s energy needs, as the usual electricity schedule alternates eight hours of power followed by eight hours without.
The power plant has not run at full capacity in years, with Israel’s crippling blockade severely limiting fuel imports into the coastal enclave.
The enclave’s severe electricity shortages over the years have exacerbated the already dire living conditions in the small Palestinian territory.War has also taken its toll, and during Israel’s 50-day offensive on Gaza in 2014, the power plant was targeted, completely knocking it out of commission.
