Fuel finally gets through after weekend blackouts

WEEKEND BLACKOUTS: Two Palestinian children sit in candlelight in their home in Gaza City. (AFP)

Israel on Monday authorised the resumption of fuel deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip, where shortages caused the only power plant to shut down over the weekend, an Israeli security official said.

The Nahal Oz border terminal, which supplies most of the territory's fuel, reopened on Monday morning, the official said.

Gaza's only electricity plant shut down on Saturday for lack of fuel, Palestinian officials said.

RELATED: Lack of fuel leads to Gaza blackouts

The Gaza plant provides 30% of the impoverished territory's electricity, with most of the rest directly supplied by Israel and a small amount coming from Egypt.

Israel cut off fuel shipments to the Hamas-ruled territory after Palestinian militants attacked Gaza's main Nahal Oz fuel terminal on April 9, killing two Israeli civilian employees.

It later resumed the supply of industrial-grade fuel for the power plant, but the plant had received no fuel for several days when it shut down.

Israel sealed the Gaza Strip off to all but very limited humanitarian supplies after the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the territory in June last year.

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