When Nafez Mahmoud heard that Israel was threatening a power cutoff to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the 33-year-old governmental employee rushed to buy a generator for any eventuality.
Mahmoud had every reason to worry for a lasting blackout in Gaza, which has been plagued by chronic power shortage since last year.
Recently, the Israeli government has threatened to provide only three hours of electricity for the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Palestinian militants' rocket firing into Israel.
Unfortunately, when Mahmoud hoped to buy a generator, he couldn 't find one in Gaza shops. There has been no incoming generators since mid-June when all Gaza crossings, including commercial ones, were sealed off by Israel following Hamas' takeover of the Strip.
"I thought the problem of electricity cutoff would be resolved if I bought a small generator, but even generators are not available nowadays, what a life we have in Gaza," Mahmoud sighed.
Mahmoud had borrowed some money from a well-to-do relative as his salary was not enough to buy a generator, which usually costs 400 to 700 U.S. dollars in the coastal enclave.
Like Mahmoud, all Gaza residents have been struggling to live a hard life without a regular supply of electricity for a second year.
In 2006, Israeli planes bombarded Gaza's only power plant and resulted in a massive blackout in Gaza on June 28, four days after Palestinian militants kidnapped an Israeli corporal southeast of the Gaza Strip.
Gaza power plant supplies electricity to about half population of the Gaza Strip, which totalled nearly 1.5 million. The other half is supplied by Israeli and Egyptian power grids.
Though the power plant was largely repaired later in November, power blackout has been almost a daily life for Gazans.
Mahmoud said the neighborhood where he lived was the most seriously affected by the severe lack of power since electricity was cut off at least for 18 hours a day.
"This year the weather is terribly hot. I can't enjoy drinking cold water in such a hot summer since there is no power," Mahmoud said, pointing to the motionless rotor blades of the fan above his head.
At nights, Mahmoud's 7-member family was plunged into complete darkness when the electricity was cut off. They, like thousands of Gaza residents, had to rely on candles and paraffin lamps.
"My kids need to study their lessons. We use candles for lightness, but I'm afraid of starting a fire," he said. "Now my wife uses her hands to wash our cloths as electricity is often cut at daytime."
The problem of power shortage has aggravated since mid-June following Hamas' takeover of Gaza, which prompted Israel to reduce power supply to Gaza, in addition to the closure of all Gaza crossings.
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, was listed by Israel, the United States and the EU as a terrorist organization.
Abu Jihad Yassin, owner of the biggest generator-selling store in Gaza, said there is a severe lack of generators in the whole Strip after Israel closed Karni commercial crossing.
"I have tens of generators in Karni crossing, but the Israelis don't allow them in. They barely allow food and other goods to enter Gaza. Even fuel for generators is now not allowed into Gaza regularly," said Yasin, whose store was empty of any generator.
Yassin said it was the political reason behind the current dilemma of electricity cutoff.
"I don't know when we will live like the other peoples of the world. Crossings are closed; they would gradually cut off power; and what remains is to prevent us breathing," said Yassin.
Hatem Nasser of Gaza power plant said electricity supply was far from meeting the demand.
"New generators installed in November mean the plant can produce 60 megawatts (MW) of power. This, combined with 107 MW from Israeli Electricity Company and a further 17 MW from Egypt, gives Gaza a capacity of 184 MW," he said.
He said estimated power demand of Gaza was normally at 225 MW. "This gap is translated into cutoff of up to six hours a day that hits Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip hardest."
Moawya Hassanin, with the Health Ministry of the deposed Hamas government, said power cutoff has left hospitals relying on diesel generators supplied with fuel financed by foreign donors, but even with this solution, "there still is a problem."
"There are no more generators available in Gaza and some organizations don't have them. It leads to problems in keeping drugs and vaccines, which have to be stored in refrigerated conditions," he said.
The Gaza strip heavily depends on outside aid inflow of almost everything, from basic foodstuffs to medicine.
In early 2006 when Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and came onto power, the U.S. and EU cut off financial aid to the Palestinians.
In mid-June when Hamas took control of the Strip, Western donors decided to resume aid to the Palestinian caretaker government based in the West Bank while the sacked Hamas-led government based in Gaza was still left in the cold.
Source: Xinhua
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