Gaza blackout as fuel runs out

The Gaza Strip faced new power blackouts on Sunday after its only electricity plant shut down after receiving no fuel from Israel in four days, senior Palestinian officials said.

"There is a very serious crisis with respect to electricity," Jamal Al-Dardasawi, spokesman for the Gaza electrical distribution company, told newswire AFP.

"With the power station having shut down we are only receiving 120 megawatts from Israel and we need around 250 megawatts. There is a shortfall of around 50%," he said.

The Gaza plant provides 30% of the impoverished and densely populated 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, which provides most of the electricity for Gaza City and surrounding areas, despite several subsequent attacks on Nahal Oz and other crossings.

An Israeli army spokesman on Saturday said the last shipment of fuel for the plant entered the territory on Wednesday and that another was due to arrive on Sunday, but the terminal remain closed.

"Until now we haven't received any fuel. The shipment was supposed to arrive this morning but we didn't receive anything," said Rafiq Maliha, the plant's director.

Another army spokesman contacted on Sunday, who asked not to be named, said the Ministry of Defence had decided not to open the crossing.

Israel sealed the Gaza Strip off from all but vital humanitarian aid since Hamas - which is pledged to its destruction - seized power in June 2007 after routing forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

In April Palestinian militants launched a series of attacks on the crossings used to bring in aid, as Israel accused Hamas of deliberately hindering its delivery to worsen the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.