EU-funded fuel shipments resume to Gaza power plant

GAZA, Aug 22 (Reuters) EU-funded fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip's main power plant resumed today after the bloc received assurances it will be able to scrutinise revenues more closely to ensure no funds are diverted to Hamas.

Large trucks delivered the fuel through one of Israel's border posts with the coastal territory that Hamas Islamists seized by force in June after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah forces.

Some 360,000 litres (95,100 US gallons) of fuel -- enough to last a day and a half -- were delivered to the plant today, a senior European Union official said. Another 405,000 litres (107,000 gallons) will be sent tomorrow.

''We're going to build up a stock,'' the EU official said.

The plant shut down on Sunday, causing widespread blackouts, after the EU stopped paying for daily fuel shipments made to Gaza by a private Israeli company. Israel supplies most of Gaza's electricity under interim peace accords.

''It is a joke, this whole story,'' Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio. ''We are the only country in the world whose installations get bombed and still supply them with electricity.'' Ben-Eliezer appeared to be referring to rockets militants in Gaza have aimed at a major power station in southern Israel. He said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had approved plans to build another power line from Israel to Gaza.

The EU said it decided to resume funding for fuel after the Palestinians agreed to allow a detailed audit of revenues generated by the plant.

Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, had earlier promised his government would not introduce any new taxes on electricity generated by the plant, one of the EU's concerns.

The Palestinian Energy Authority's deputy chairman, Kanaan Abaid, said the shipment of fuel today was larger than the usual daily delivery before the EU freeze.

Gaza's border crossings with Israel and Egypt have been closed to all but humanitarian supplies since Hamas's takeover, prompting aid groups to warn of an approaching crisis.

REUTERS AK KN1832