Israel stops Gaza fuel supply on security concerns

GAZA, Aug 17 (Reuters) Israel has stopped fuel deliveries to Gaza because of security concerns, an army official said today, and Palestinian officials said the coastal strip's main electricity plant had scaled back operations as a result.

It was unclear how many Gazans would be affected by power shortages. Officials in the power plant said as many as 400,000 might lose some electricity, but Israeli and Palestinian officials said only about one third of Gaza's electricity comes from the Gaza plant.

An Israeli army official said the shipments of fuel into the coastal strip were stopped ''due to security concerns'' yesterday, but declined to elaborate.

Israel tightened its economic grip on the Gaza Strip after Islamist group Hamas's violent takeover of the territory on June 14, closing the main crossings to all but humanitarian supplies, including fuel.

At the same time, Israel reopened the financial taps to the Western-backed emergency government that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas established in the occupied West Bank.

Derar Abu Sissi, director of the Gaza power plant, said in a news conference that the fuel reserves for producing electricity for the 1.5 million Gazans ''are zero''.

''Before the political situation, our strategic fuel reserve was enough for two weeks. Now, whatever we receive, we must use.

there is no reserve,'' Abu Sissi said.

Palestinian power plant officials added that if the delivery of fuel to Gaza did not resume by Sunday, the Gaza plant would be forced to shut down completely.

According to Palestinian and Israeli officials, Gaza's population uses approximately 200 megawatts of electricity, out of which 120 are provided directly from Israeli power lines, 17 are delivered from Egypt, and 65 are produced at the Gaza plant.

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