"The four generators at the power station stopped after the industrial diesel they needed to operate ran out," said Kanaan Obaid.

Obaid added that the power station used to provide 60 megawatts of power across the Gaza Strip, but after its failure half of the cities in the region will suffer from blackouts.

As a temporary solution, he said that the electricity company in Gaza would depend on a power feed coming from Israel.

Israel currently supplies approximately 13 percent of power for Gaza residents, but Obaid said he hoped the country would increase that to 50 percent.

Power shortages have plagued the only station in Gaza during the ongoing blockade imposed by Israeli authorities on the Gaza Strip after the Hamas movement took control of the territory in June 2007.

Since then, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have resorted to smuggling fuel via tunnels dug under the Gaza-Egypt borderline, but it has not been enough to operate the power station.

It has been used mainly for cars and small electrical generators that Gazans resort to due to the repeated power cuts.

Meanwhile, Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh confirmed that Israel closed all border crossings into Gaza on Friday, noting that they were expected to remain shut on Saturday before reopening on Sunday.

The full closure means that the Gaza Strip will experience a blackout for the next three days until fuel supplies can be transferred in and transported to the power plant.