Gaza power plant begins shutting down

VIDEO - Gaza's main power plant began shutting down on Sunday due to a fuel shortage caused by Israel's closure of the territory's borders in response to Palestinian rocket attacks. Video courtesy of infolive.tv Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered a tightening of the closure imposed on Israel's border crossings Thursday, in view of the ongoing rocket barrage on its south. Kanaan Abeid, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, said one of the plant's two turbines ceased operation in the morning and the second would do so in the evening. "There is no fuel coming in and we have no reserves," Abeid said, estimating as many as one million people would be affected by the full shutdown. UN officials also warned of the impact on daily life in the impoverished Gaza Strip. Israel tightened its closure of the territory on Friday in response to cross-border rocket fire, closing all crossings to even UN humanitarian supplies. The Israeli Defense Ministry said only "humanitarian cases" which receive Minister Barak's personal approval will be allowed through. The reports of Israel's intentions to increase fuel sanctions resulted in long lines in Gaza's gas stations over the weekend. Many stations, mostly in the Strip's south, ran out of gas altogether and most remained closed Sunday morning. Officials with the European Union, which funds fuel shipments to the Gaza power plant, confirmed that one of the turbines had been shut down and that the plant was now operating at approximately half of its capacity. 'A matter of hours' "After two months of reductions, they're very low on fuel. It's only a question of hours," said a senior EU official involved in the fuel program. The EU official said the last EU-funded fuel shipment was made on Thursday and that no fuel was allowed in on Sunday. According to Israeli and Palestinian officials, Gaza's population ordinarily consumes 200 megawatts of electricity, of which 65 are produced by the local power plant. The rest comes from Israel and Egypt. "It (the power plant shutdown) is going to have a significant impact on the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza," said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose aid shipments have been turned back. Power outages have become increasingly commonplace in the Gaza Strip in recent months. Israel declared the area a "hostile entity" In September, leading to reductions in the flow of fuel and other supplies. EU-funded fuel to the Gaza power plant has dropped by about 12% as a result of the Israeli cutbacks, officials said. Critics say the fuel reductions amount to illegal "collective punishment" against largely aid-dependent Gaza. Ali Waked contributed to this report

Gaza power plant begins shutting down

(Video) Israeli power, fuel sanctions on Gaza begin taking their toll as Strip's main power plant initiates shutdown procedures. UNRWA warns of 'significant impact on daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people'