GAZA: EU resumes fuel shipments to Gaza power plant

The European Union renews funds to pay fuel supply into Gaza's power plant after days of darkness due to EU's concerns that Hamas will relocate some of the money for military purposes. The European Union resumed fuel shipments to Gaza's main power plant on Wednesday (August 22), a Palestinian official said, after the EU received assurances that the revenues were not diverted to Hamas. On Wednesday morning several trucks loaded fuel at the Nahal Oz crossing, which was closed by Israel last week due to security concerns, according to Israeli officials. "Thank God we received fuel from the Israeli side which is transferred to the power station. This amount can provide Gaza with power for one day. Every day they will transfer some 360,000 litres of fuel," abu Jamil, an official of the Gaza power plant, told Reuters at the crossing. A torn EU flag flew above one of the trucks and a ripped sticker remained on the crossing's fuel tank as the trucks drove to Gaza's power plant, located in Gaza City and provides electricity to approximately one quarter of the coastal strip. The plant had cut off power last week, causing widespread blackouts, after the EU had 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. The EU's decision to resume funding for fuel was announced after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he gave assurances to the EU that his government had no plans to introduce any new taxes on electricity generated by the plant. Abu-Jamil said the shipment of fuel on Wednesday was larger than what was given every day prior to the EU freeze. The Islamist group Hamas, shunned by much of the West due to its refusal to recognise Israel and its attacks against it, took over the Gaza Strip in June. Ever since, Gaza's border crossings with Israel and Egypt have been closed to all but humanitarian supplies, prompting aid groups to warn of a looming crisis.

ITN Source | August 22, 2007

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