DHAKA: Israel allowed the entry of 450,000 litres of fuel, paid for by Qatar, into the Gaza Strip on Sunday to enable the Palestinian territory’s sole power plant to resume operations.

Gaza’s 1.8 million people have been enduring daily blackouts of around 12 hours since the power plant was switched off 43 days ago due to a fuel shortage caused by neighbouring Egypt’s closure of smuggling tunnels.

‘Hopefully, the power plant will gradually resume full operation during the day. The fuel we are receiving from Qatar will allow us only to return to the old schedule of eight hours of cuts followed by eight hours of power,’ said Ahmed Abu Al-Amrain of the Gaza energy authority, reports The Jerusalem Post.

Qatar answered an appeal by Gaza’s government, led by the Islamist Hamas group, after four days of torrential rains that killed two people and forced the evacuation of more than 5,000 residents from flooded homes, some accessible only by boat.

BDST: 1954 HRS, DEC 15, 2013
Edited by: Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor