Over a
million children in Gaza are living in impoverished circumstances due
to electricity shortages, causing problems for public health and
education, warned Save the Children on Tuesday.
The
international NGO says Israel’s ongoing land, air and sea blockade
of Gaza, which has been in place since 2007, is the primary cause of
the electricity shortages.
Save the
Children also highlights that Gaza’s sole power plant had stopped
functioning in April 2017 after exhausting its fuel reserves, since
operators could not replenish them due to insufficient funds. The
plant, already damaged from Israel’s war on Gaza in 2009, had
provided a third of Gaza’s electricity.
“The
Palestinian Authority stopped funding electricity to Gaza in April
2017. Egypt as a supplier had dropped out too, despite reportedly
offering Gaza’s power plant a recent emergency boost, which leaves
Gaza dependent on Israel.”
Most homes
in Gaza now have just two to four hours of electricity per day, while
some have no one at all. Many children spent the recent Islamic
festival of Eid al-Adha in the dark.
“While
politicians celebrate Eid and sleep in their air-conditioned homes,
Gaza’s children are sweating in the stifling summer heat, unable to
sleep, play or study”, said Jennifer Moorehead, Save the
Children’s Country Director in the Occupied Territories. “We
shouldn’t have to be demanding such a basic service as electricity
for the children of Gaza. A couple of hours of power a day is just
not acceptable in 2017.”
Full
report:
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