The delivery of around 450,000 liters of industrial diesel was the first to Gaza’s only power station coming via Israel in almost a year after Hamas softened its resistance to accepting supplies from its Jewish neighbor.
The fuel is enough to power the plant, which serves two thirds of Gaza’s population, for one day, an official from Gaza’s energy authority said. A Palestinian official said contacts were under way to arrange an additional delivery yesterday.
The fuel crisis has crippled Gaza in recent weeks. Petrol pumps have run dry and its 1.7 million residents are suffering major electricity blackouts.
The dispute followed Egypt’s insistence that fuel imports to Gaza pass through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border and its crackdown on smuggled supplies last month.
Hamas objects to that arrangement, not wanting Israel, a country whose right to exist it does not recognize, the power to block supplies in times of tension. It wants direct trade with Egypt, which could strengthen Gaza’s economy and Hamas’s popularity.
The crisis is a further example of the rocky relationship between Hamas and Egypt, which favors Hamas’ rivals Fatah — the party that lost control of the Strip to Hamas in 2007.
Yesterday’s delivery followed “intensive and successful contacts” between Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, and Egypt and Israel, said Raed Fattouh, the Palestinian Authority official in charge of coordination with Israel over supplies into Gaza.
Hamas initially did not want to accept the diesel but later relented.
Thousands of Hamas supporters took to the streets in Gaza after Friday prayers demanding Egypt supply them with fuel. They accused Abbas and Israel of tightening the blockade in a bid to end their rule.
Senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya said the energy shortage was caused by groups trying to blackmail them into making concessions in the conflict with Israel. Hayya said Hamas would crack down on some Fatah members in the Gaza Strip, who he said were working with Israel to provoke a revolt against the Islamist group.
A Fatah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, rejected the accusation, saying Hamas aimed to shift attention from its “failure to serve” Gazans.
Hamas would prefer to get fuel through Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt, but Cairo opposes opening it, fearing it would send a signal that it exempts Israel of legal responsibilities.
It cites old international understandings that limited the Rafah crossing to passengers only as a reason for its refusal.
