The impact of the Gaza electricity crisis on people’s access to
water and power is worse than it was in the aftermath of the
50-day war that ended three years ago this week, Oxfam said
today.
In August 2014 when the war ended 900,000 people in Gaza lacked
proper water and sanitation facilitates, today that number is 2
million people.
The current crisis was caused by Israel’s decision to cut
electricity supplies to Gaza by 40 per cent, at the request of
the Palestinian National Authority. This has seen supplies drop
to as little as two hours per day.
Chris Eijkemans, Oxfam’s Country Director for the Occupied
Palestinian Territory and Israel said the four month crisis must
end now and relieve an already trapped population, now seriously
threatened by risk of widespread disease, with few functioning
services.
Eijkemans said: “After the 2014 Gaza War, 50 per cent of the
sewage treatment centres were no longer operating. Today, none
are working. After the last war, 80 per cent of the population
received four hours of electricity per day. Today many people in
Gaza are living on as little as two hours per day,”.
Since 2006, when Gaza’s sole power plant was bombed by Israel,
its electricity supply has been unacceptably low, with households
and businesses receiving as little as eight hours a day - a
situation also exacerbated by the land, sea and air blockade now
in its 11th year.
All Oxfam’s water and sanitation, agriculture and economic
development projects in Gaza have been affected by the current
crisis.
Desalinisation plant rehabilitation projects have ground to a
halt, fishermen cannot store their catch and farmers cannot
irrigate their crops. The economic, development and humanitarian
costs are staggering.
Eijkemans added: “Even without rockets and bombs, Palestinians in
Gaza are experiencing a humanitarian emergency which is all too
familiar to them. It is shameful this crisis has been allowed to
escalate to this extent and further two million people living
under an illegal blockade.”
The Gaza electricity crisis is an illegal, punitive, measure
against an entire population and must end immediately, Oxfam
said. The Palestinian Authority, the de-facto authorities in
Gaza, and Israel all share responsibility for the well being of
Palestinians living in Gaza and must not use them as a bargaining
chip in this political dispute. All must act to urgently resume
fuel and electricity supply to Gaza.
Mr Eijkemans added: “Palestinians in Gaza are already enduring
huge hardship, they should not be forced to suffer further or
used as a bargaining chip of Palestinian political parties.”
