Gaza sources: Sole power plant to halt over Israel fuel blockade

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Gaza's sole power plant will cease functioning within hours, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency said on Saturday, quoting the Strip's Energy Authority.

The Gaza Energy Authority wrote in a statement that while of the power plant's generators has been shut down, the remaining amount of fuel will only suffice to to continue the plant's electricity output for a few hours longer.

"The power plant's output decreased to 30 megawatts and Gaza will experience blackouts as a result of an energy deficit of 50%," the statement added.

According to the Ma'an report, the Strip-based authority also claimed that the reduction of fuel transfers into Gaza continued, with the first week of February seeing 1,600 cubic meters of fuel entrring the costal enclave instead of the 2,200 cubic meters decided upon in an Israeli court decision.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1149443.html

[Igel]

1. Odd.

Is it actually different from this?

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1166503&lang=eng_news

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2. Sounds different but not entirely unrelated.

I would hazard that there are two issues: the blockade and money, and they are more or less muddled up, depending on who is reporting.

[Igel]

3. Sounds not that different.

One power plant, no fuel, so the one plant will be shut down. In one case it's early February and they're saying the plant'll be shut down for lack of fuel because of no money to buy it.

In the other case it's a week later in the same February and the plant'll be shut down for lack of fuel because of a blockade--but a dateless, nameless, reasonless blockade. As though Israel randomly blockades Gaza for no reason. If that's a reasonable assumption, then the lack of reason is unnecessary. If that's not a reasonable assumption, I find the lack of a motivation for the blockade puzzling.

At the same time, I could find ways to call not shipping in fuel because no payment is forthcoming a blockade. After all, if no fuel apart from what's paid for for the power plant is allowed to be imported, that's a blockade of sorts. Then if that fuel source is ended, sure, there'd be fuel minus a blockade. Esp. since the blockade de facto results from suspension of cross-boundary relations. Still fuzzy to my mind, but then again perhaps my mind is simply fuzzy.

That it's from HaAaretz is also puzzling. Perhaps the motive for the blockade is obvious and the financial impasse has been resolved, but I'd also expect a reasonable newspaper to mention this to help prevent the kind of inference I'm making.

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4. There is no question that Israel restricts what does and does not got into Gaza.

As far as it is able to anyway. Fuel oil for example, rocket parts, RPGs, and for good reasons (from an Israeli point of view). Whether this is all about money or not seems obscure to me, but it's not incredible that that is part of it. It's certainly true that all and sundry will spread bullshit about the situation.