Palestinians residing in the Gaza strip have suffered from inconsistent electricity power since June of 2006, because Israeli military forces bombed the only power plant there. Although it took five months to reconstruct some of the plant, it is still not sufficient enough to run the 470 megawatts (MW) demanding territory. The consequences have contributed to harsh living conditions and even deadly incidents.
In May of 2016, the Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza reported that the electricity cuts have killed 29 people, all caused by fire incidents due to light alternatives that are hazardous. Without an end to this crisis, we will only see more and more deaths caused by it. The report also indicated that residents were restricted to about four to six hours of electricity per day, but since the release of that report, the hours are limited to three per day, leaving 21 hours of blackout.
Recently, the Palestinian Authority has been thrown under the bus for lack of proposed solutions and funding. But the PA should not be solely blamed for the ongoing crisis. For starters, more than 70% of households in Gaza are unable to pay their electricity bills due to financial inability or lack of enforcement, that is absent cash flow that would be going toward funding of repairment. Also, clearly destruction by Israeli forces did not stop in 2006, for example, in 2014 Israeli airstrikes wiped out Gaza’s fuel storage tanks only adding to the crisis. Gaza once received power from Egypt, Israel, and what was left of the plant, but this did not last. In 2013, Egypt blocked the tunnels that connected Gaza with al-Arish, where the exporting of goods and fuel would take place. Another major factor is that Israel prohibits any construction material to enter Gaza, therefore the possibility of rebuilding the plant is really up to Israel.
“Our lives are at a halt due to the power cuts”
– Shukri Abu Oan, Gaza-based activist
This crisis is affecting lives, and no one is discussing it or trying to solve it. The problem will only worsen and deepen the suffrage within the Gaza strip. The blockades and attacks done by Israel must be justified and be discussed in more newsrooms and outlets. Israel has gone a long way with insuring the protection of their land, but at what cost? The cost of innocent Palestinian lives.
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