Hamas announces deal on Gaza electricity crisis

The Hamas government in Gaza said on Tuesday it had reached a deal with the Palestinian Authority on supplying fuel to the impoverished area, which has been hit with a severe power crisis.

The deal was confirmed by the rival Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah, though it said the deal was contingent on Gaza's electricity company – under Hamas control – paying for the fuel deliveries.

Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu announced "a deal with our brothers in Ramallah on the delivery of fuel for the Gaza power station, under which the public petrol company will deliver 500,000 liters a day, is starting tomorrow."

"The price of the delivery will be covered by the Gaza electricity company's revenue," he added.

"The electricity company has transferred two million shekels (US$540,000) as a deposit for this agreement and we hope that its application as agreed with our brothers in Ramallah will begin to solve the electricity crisis in Gaza."

The spokesman for Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's government in the West Bank noted that the Palestinian Authority had already secured the delivery of more than 400,000 liters of diesel fuel from Israel for the power station last month.

"This is a temporary measure that will be carried out so long as the electricity company in Gaza continues to pay the petrol company the necessary funds," Ghassan Khatib told AFP of the new agreement.

The deal was agreed to after talks were held in Cairo between Egyptian officials and representatives from the Hamas and Palestinian Authority governments.

Hamas Foreign Minister Mohammed Awad said the agreement would compliment an earlier deal between Hamas and Egypt to work to resolve Gaza's long-standing electricity problems.

That agreement, announced by Hamas on February 23, called for three stages, the first of which would see Egyptian companies pumping fuel directly to Gaza under the terms of contracts signed with the firms.

The second part of the agreement called for the Islamic Development Bank to fund a project to upgrade and increase the capacity of Gaza's sole power plant by 40 megawatts.

The final phase would connect Gaza's electricity grid to Egypt's and convert the Palestinian territory's power plant, which currently supplies about one-third of Gaza's electricity, from diesel to gas.

Gaza has long suffered power outages because of the economic blockade of the Palestinian people by Israel.

The Jewish state continues to block economic development in Gaza by maintaining a blockade on the territory.

 Source