Gaza has lost all mains electricity after the only power station in the Palestinian enclave ran out of fuel and had to shut down, Reuters reported Wednesday evening citing Hamas media sources.
This means people will have to rely on generators – if they have diesel to run them – to power critical infrastructure, even as Israel rains down missiles on the Palestinian territory. It also means there will be no running water or operational elevators, and people won’t be able to charge mobile phones. An hour later, Gaza went dark.
“It is very difficult – we don’t have water… internet… electricity,” Kamal Mashharawi, a Gaza resident, told the BBC, “We tried to go to the nearest supermarket but it was unsafe because of explosions.”
“I don’t think civilians deserve to die – they should be left out of the conflict,” he said.
Electricity shut-off in Gaza has sparked fears of an additional crisis as hospitals scramble to treat the thousands who have been injured in Israel’s devastating aerial strikes.
“The only power plant in the Gaza Strip stopped functioning at 2 PM (4.30 PM IST),” Gaza Energy Authority chief Jalal Ismail said. He had earlier warned the plant was running short of fuel.
