Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Gaza struggles with electricity crisis

PressTV - Gaza struggles with electricity crisis:

Tue Aug 9, 2011 5:2AM GMT
Ashraf Shannon, Press TV, Gaza

"Under Israeli blockade for over five years, Gaza's electrical crisis continues unabated.

As a result, Gaza experiences outages of up to 12 hours a day, severely disrupting normal functioning of humanitarian infrastructure.
The situation is specially hard during the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan.
Most Gazans are forced to have their Iftar meals at dark with many unable to even cook a meal due to power outages.
According to the Palestinian Non Governmental Organization network (PNGO), it's incumbent on Israel as the occupying power to provide for the needs of the people, including adequate power, what it hasn't done in 44 years.

Gaza 's power supply comes from three sources, it receives 17 megawatts from Egypt, 108 megawatts from Israel and 55 megawatts generated by its own power plant.
This amounts to 180 megawatts, or 75 percent of its estimated demand of 240 megawatts.

Power cuts place immense pressure on Gaza's crumbling electrical grid adding misery to the lives of civilians, as Gazans will continue to bear the brunt of the reduction of power.

Israel argues it is no longer bound by international law governing the administration of occupied territory to supply utilities to the civilian population.

But the position accepted by the international community is that Israel remains legally responsible for the blockaded coastal enclave, despite withdrawing six years ago, because it still controls Gaza's borders, airspace and territorial waters.

For five years now Gazans have dealt with long hours of power outages during the month of Ramadan, usually eating their two meals (one at dusk and another at dawn) in the dark.

Rights groups call on the international community to pressure Israel into lifting the Gaza siege as it violates international laws.



‪Gaza struggles with electrical crisis - Press TV News:

"presstvmobile on Aug 8, 2011


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