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Gaza long power outages compounding Coronavirus woes

Ashraf Shannon

Press TV, Gaza

With the Coronavirus lockdown in the Gaza Strip entering its fifth day, Palestinians are struggling to cope with the prolonged power outages that last for more than 20 hours a day.

Gaza’s sole power generating plant stopped working on August 23rd after Israel refused to allow fuel into the blockaded coastal strip.

Power outages have reached a critical level that threatens the provision of the basic services as over a hundred Coronavirus infections have been discovered among the general population.

The electricity crisis has been causing severe disruptions to the provision of vital services including health, water supply and the treatment of raw sewage. Israel’s illegal practices are compounding the risk of Coronavirus infection for nearly two million Palestinians.

According to the Palestinian NGOs network, which represents over one hundred and forty Palestinian civil society organizations, the current electricity crisis is the worst in recent years.

Lack of electricity is reducing access to clean water and making it difficult for families to wash their hands a crucial step towards halting the spread of coronavirus.

This has been forcing cash strapped Gazans to buy filtered water for their daily use. With each day that fuel supply is denied, a humanitarian catastrophe edges closer in the tiny coastal sliver.

Prolonged power outages are taking their toll on the Gaza Strip amid the coronavirus pandemic. Experts say that the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating due to the crippling Israeli blockade.


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