Gaza's only power plant is to stop later on Sunday due to shortage of industrial diesel that Israel allows into Gaza through Gaza-Israel border crossings, Xinhua reported referring to a Palestinian official.
Suhail Skeik, general director of the power station said in a statement that the station has reduced its power abilities since Friday, and would stop completely at the end of the day due to fuel shortage.
Since the end of the 22-day Israeli military assault on Gaza, Israel has been partially opening Gaza Strip border crossings for humanitarian aid and fuels. However, it shut down the crossings for several days due to rocket attacks from Gaza.
Skeik said that Gaza power plant usually provides 60 megawatt electricity to Gaza City and other areas in central Gaza Strip, but since Friday, electricity from the station was reduced to 30 megawatts.
During the Israeli military assault that ended on Jan. 18, Gaza Strip areas fell into complete blackout after Israel prevented fuels into the enclave, where most of power transmitters and electrical wires were damaged.
"We received 45,000 litters of industrial diesel on Wednesday and 90,000 litters on Thursday, special for operating the power station, but on Friday and Saturday, no fuels were allowed into Gaza," he said.
Skeik warned that preventing fuels within the coming two or three days "would again cause a severe humanitarian crisis, simply because there is no cocking gas and the hospitals need for permanent electricity."
The European Union is the one who is responsible for buying the industrial diesel for operating Gaza power plant, however, the amounts of diesel are not allowed into Gaza due to the tight Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza Strip.