Israel to Restore Electricity to Gaza on Monday After Six-month Cut – Haaretz

The restoration of the daily 120 megawatts of electricity is being done at the request of the Palestinian Authority, which asked for Israel’s cooperation in the context of the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas
Yaniv Kubovich and Amira Hass Jan 07, 2018
The state on Monday morning is scheduled to boost the amount of electricity it provides the Gaza Strip to the level it was half a year ago. Gaza residents are expected to get between two to four more hours of power a day from this increase; how much also depends on the power supply from Egypt and the output of Gaza’s own power plant. For the past several months Gazans have had only four hours of electricity a day.

The restoration of the daily 120 megawatts of electricity is being done at the request of the Palestinian Authority, which asked for Israel’s cooperation in the context of the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas. The order to the Israel Electric Corp. was issued by Energy Minster Yuval Steinitz, in coordination with the security establishment.

Monday’s increase – assuming that the electricity from Egypt isn’t interrupted and the Gaza plant can overcome its chronic problems – will bring the total power supply to the Strip to 208 megawatts a day. According to the Gisha nonprofit association, various estimates put Gaza’s power requirements at between 400 to 500 megawatts a day.

Following the decision to restore the power supply, Leah Goldin, mother of 1st Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and whose remains are being held by Hamas, posted a message on the Arabic-language Facebook page of the Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories that read, “Not returning Hadar Goldin for burial is considered a crime in Islam.”

One of the promises the PA had made as part of the Palestinian reconciliation process was to get Israel to restore its power supply to its former level. About half a year ago, the PA told Israel it was reducing its payments for electricity to Gaza by 30 percent, as a result of which the IEC reduced the electricity going to the Strip to only 70 megawatts a day.
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Israel begins work to restore power supply in Gaza to previous levels – Jerusalem Post

By ADAM RASGON
01/07/2018
The additional 50 megawatts will slightly mitigate the power shortage in Gaza.
Israel on Sunday started work to restore its supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip to normal levels, Gaza Electric Distribution Company spokesman Muhammad Thabet said.

In June, Israel stopped transferring approximately 50 MW of electricity to Gaza after the Palestinian Authority said it would no longer pay for the power as a part of its effort to pressure Hamas to give up control of the Strip. Hamas has controlled Gaza since it ousted the PA from the territory in 2007.

“The Israeli teams started working on delivering an extra 50 megawatts to us. I hope we will be receiving the electricity in the next three to four hours,” Thabet said during a phone interview on Sunday evening.

Last Wednesday, the PA announced it was ready to resume paying for the electricity it had asked Israel to stop sending to Gaza, even though Hamas had not relinquished control of the territory.

Thabet added that the additional 50 MW will slightly mitigate the power shortage in Gaza.

“We are talking about an additional two hours of electricity, meaning that we will go from four hours electricity daily to six hours,” he said.

Gaza suffers from severely inadequate electricity infrastructure that can only provide a total of approximately 225 MW of power. According to Gisha, an Israeli human-rights group, Gaza’s demand for electricity is estimated to be between 400 MW and 500 MW.
Many Gazans resort to backup generators to keep their houselights and refrigerators on during blackouts.

A resident of Gaza City who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said while he is relieved the PA resumed its normal payments to Israel for electricity, it should have made the move months ago.

“Electricity should have never been used as a political tool. It is a right of the people to have continuous access to electricity,” he said. “The decision to restore the 50 megawatts should have been made a long time ago.”
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-starts-work-on-restoring-its-power-supply-to-Gaza-to-normal-levels-533053