GAZA CITY: A delivery of 30 million liters of Qatari fuel, which was to have entered Gaza yesterday, has been delayed yet again, officials said, prompting an angry reaction from the Palestinian energy authority.
The Hamas-run Gaza Strip has been living through its worst electricity crisis in living memory, with the Qatari shipment expected to help ease the situation. But Raed Fatuh, head coordinator for the Palestinian Authority at the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Gaza and Israel, told AFP the delay was the result of “technical issues” on the Egyptian side.
He said delivery of the fuel, which is to be transported through Egypt’s Al-Awja crossing and into southern Israel, then into Gaza through Kerem Shalom, would take place on Tuesday.
It was the third such delay in less than three weeks and prompted an angry outburst by the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA), which said the shipment had been sitting in the dock at the Egyptian port of Suez “for a month and a half.”
“There has been a change of roles between the Israelis and the Egyptians in suffocating the Palestinian people and continuing the siege on Gaza,” a statement posted on the PENRA website said.
“This continued delay in the arrival of the Qatari fuel will extend the electricity crisis in Gaza, especially with summer approaching.”
Last month, Israel gave the green light for the fuel to be transferred through its territory after receiving a request from the Egyptians, an Israeli security official said. The Gaza power crisis was sparked by a fall in supplies of fuel smuggled in from Egypt, forcing the closure of the coastal territory’s sole power plant and causing power cuts of up to 18 hours a day.
Separately, Palestinian prisoners in Israel are threatening to relaunch a hunger strike, a Palestinian official said yesterday, blaming Israel for reneging on a deal that ended a recent one.
"There are still provocations in the prisons, and the prisoners are threatening to resume the strike if the situation remains as it is," Palestinian prisoners minister Issa Qaraqaa said at a press conference in Ramallah.
Some 1,550 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel ended a hunger strike on May 14 in exchange for a package of measures which would allow visits from relatives in Gaza, and the transfer of detainees out of solitary confinement.
Israel also said it would not extend administrative detention orders, unless new evidence emerged.
In return, prisoner leaders committed to not engage in militant activity inside jail and to refrain from future hunger strikes.
Administrative detention is a procedure that allows suspects to be held without charge for renewable periods of up to six months.
But Qaraqaa said Israel was not keeping its end of the deal.
"Israel has begun to violate the deal it signed with the prisoners, and within ten days after announcing the end of the strike, Israel renewed administrative detention orders for approximately 30 prisoners," Qaraqaa charged.
"Israel wants to punish the prisoners for striking with these renewed orders," he said.
Qaraqaa also said he doubted Israel would allow the Gaza visits it had committed to.
"So far, we don't know if Israel will even allow families of prisoners from Gaza to visit their imprisoned relatives," he said.
An Israeli defence official who wished to remain unnamed rejected Qaraqaa's claims.
"As of the end of last week, three administrative detention orders were renewed," the official told AFP.
Regarding the visits from Gaza, the official said that Israel was indeed working toward enabling visits, but it was a process that "would take some time" as it "involves many different bodies."
Qaraqaa also addressed the issue of two prisoners, Mahmud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi, who have been on extended hunger strikes.
He said they "were on the verge of a coma and have a low heart rate."
FROM: AGENCIES
Gaza living through worst power crisis
