Power shortage worsens humanitarian situation in Gaza

The power crisis in the Gaza Strip has been growing due to the Israeli blockade that leaves the coastal enclave short of the fuel required to run its generators, Press TV reports.

Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation has announced a tight rationing of power among Gaza citizens, with daily power outages of over eight hours.

The fuel shortage and long blackouts worsen the humanitarian situation in the blockaded Gaza and lead to a number of deaths in the besieged territory.

“As a Palestinian citizen, I suffer from power shortage. We spend most of our day without power. The children study in candle light,” complained a resident in Gaza.

“Many families were injured or even killed because of a candle catching fire or because of [faulty] generators,” he added.

The most recent incident is the death of an entire family of six whose house caught fire because of a single candle — the only thing the impoverished people afforded to light their house at the time of power cuts.

“The deaths that have occurred in the past few days are not just tragedies; they are direct crimes because of the siege,” said Adie Mormech, an international activist in Gaza.

“There are still 1.6 million people here and they are under a military siege. That means a lot of important goods are not coming in and one of the most important is fuel for electricity,” he added.

Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

Gazans are calling on the international community and human rights organizations to take action to lift the Israeli blockade and allow required amounts of fuel to enter the strip.