Critical Situation in Gaza Due to Lack of Electricity
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- Published: Tuesday, 06 February 2018 16:17
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Photo: PLGaza, Feb 6.- The emergency fuel for critical facilities across the Gaza Strip, such as medical centers, will be exhausted in the coming10 days, leading the Palestinian population to a humanitarian catastrophe, a UN agency warned.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to avoid the collapse of public services, at least 1.4 million liters of fuel are required each month.
According to the humanitarian coordinator in the area, Roberto Valent, immediate support from donors is urgently needed to ensure that Palestinians in Gaza have access to health, water and sanitation services that save lives.
Hospitals have already begun to close, he warned. Without financing, more service providers will be forced to suspend operations in the coming weeks, and the situation will be drastically deteriorated, with possible impacts on the entire population.
Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesman of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, announced today the closure of 19 medical centers because of the lack of electricity.
Al-Qidra revealed yesterday that the sanitary facilities closed so far cover a population of more than 350,000 inhabitants in Gaza.
The current energy crisis hitting the population of the Gaza Strip is first due to the blockade imposed by Israel on that Palestinian coastal enclave since 2007, as well as differences between the Palestinian Hamas movement and the Palestinian National Authority. (PL)
