Gaza sole power plant may stop as fuel runs out amid escalation

By Nour Abu Eisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The authorities in Gaza have warned that the Gaza Strip's only power plant may be shut down due to the depletion of fuel supplies amid the ongoing escalation between Israel and Palestinian groups, now in its fourth day.

Since the escalation began on Tuesday, Israel has closed its crossings with Gaza, including the Erez crossing for individuals and the Karam Abu Salam commercial crossing

"We warn from the continued closure of the crossings and the ban of entering needed fuel for the power plant, where the plant's administration was forced to shut down one of the three turbines to prolong its work duration," said Salama Marouf, chairman of the media office in Gaza, at a press conference.

He expected that the power plant may totally shut down within 72 hours.

Marouf urged the international community to take responsibility for what is happening in Gaza of Israeli bombardment.

He also noted that since Tuesday, the Israeli warplanes have destroyed completely eight buildings which comprised 28 residential units, along with hundreds of others partially damaged.

On Friday, there was a violent exchange of fire between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups. The Palestinian groups fired several barrages of rockets on Israeli targets, while Israel carried out a series of airstrikes targeting agricultural lands, suspected military outposts, and rocket launch sites belonging to the Islamic Jihad group across the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 31 people, including six children and three women, have been killed, and 93 others, including 32 children and 17 women, have been injured in the last four days of Israeli forces air attacks.

Israel's national emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, reported that a rocket on Thursday fired from Gaza struck a residential building in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, resulting in one fatality and five injuries.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar