The
Israeli regime has begun reducing electricity supplies to the
besieged Gaza Strip, a week after Tel Aviv announced its
much-condemned decision to further pressure the impoverished
Palestinian sliver.
The
Gaza Energy Authority announced the news in a statement on Monday,
adding that Israeli authorities "began to reduce by eight
megawatts electricity flow" into the Palestinian enclave. It
also warned that the "dangerous" reduction would have
"serious effects" on the crisis-hit territory.
It
further said that the cutback was expected to reduce the amount of
the mains electricity supplied to the blockaded sliver by at least 45
minutes of the daily average of four hours of power that Gaza's
nearly 2 million inhabitants receive from an Israeli power plant,
which provides them with some 125 MW a month, or 30 percent of the
total mains electricity needs of the enclave.
On
June 11, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet
gave the state-owned Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) the green
light to implement the controversial cut, a step that is expected to
further deteriorate the power crunch plaguing the Palestinian seaside
territory, run by the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Israel’s
decision was reportedly made after the West Bank-based Palestinian
Authority (PA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, slashed its monthly
payments for the power supplies to Gaza by 30 percent. The PA and
Hamas are at loggerheads, and Abbas' decision is then considered as
indirect pressure on Hamas to relinquish control of the enclave.
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