Palestinian authorities warned today, Tuesday, of a serious humanitarian and economic crisis that may make the situation more difficult in the Gaza Strip, after the power plant stops working completely.
This came in statements, statements and protests, organized in Gaza, in light of the Ministry of Health warning that the crisis will have serious repercussions on the work of hospitals, while the Union of Municipalities confirmed that the crisis will affect its facilities and services to citizens.
Jamal Al-Khudari, head of the People´s Committee to Confront the Siege, said that the sector entered into a stifling humanitarian crisis with the station´s suspension, due to the occupation preventing the entry of fuel allocated to it, with the accumulation of crises and problems due to the continuous blockade for 14 years.
Al-Khudari stated in a press statement that electricity is the backbone of life and Gaza is without electricity, because the occupation is trying to stifle it and seriously affect all other vital, health and humanitarian sectors, and health, humanitarian and economic disasters will follow, if this dangerous tragic situation is not remedied.
He pointed out that the occupation is applying its policies to suffocate Gaza, by controlling the commercial crossings, preventing the entry of essentials for the continuation of life, such as fuel and building materials, and is practicing a dangerous blockade targeting the humanitarian sectors.
Al-Khoudary reiterated that this prevention and the continuation of the blockade directly target the lives of the two million citizens living in Gaza, in a manner that is inconsistent with human values ​​and the principles of international, humanitarian and moral law, and considered it a collective punishment.
He pointed out that the Palestinian people in Gaza are experiencing suffering after suffering, and they are being targeted because of their steadfastness despite the difficult economic conditions.
The head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege pointed out that the crisis will negatively affect all the details of the residents´ lives in Gaza, the most important of which is their access to drinking water, which is already unfit, indicating that 95% of it is not suitable for human use.
Al-Khudari stressed that the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza require an end to the blockade and the opening of all commercial crossings without restrictions or conditions and lists of prohibitions, and not the tightening of the siege and closure.
For his part, the union official in the Union of Trade Union Workers in Gaza, Sami Al-Amsi, warned that the crisis of stopping the station threatens to stop 90% of the factories and suspend nearly 50 thousand workers.
Al-Amsi stated in a press statement that about 500 factories in various industrial and construction fields are threatened with stopping work.
He pointed out that the productive workshops and factories in the Gaza Strip will operate at less than 20% capacity as a result of the electricity crisis, by relying on generators, laying off workers and reducing working hours, which will affect the wheel of production in the Strip.
And he indicated that the electricity crisis will cause great losses in most economic fields, noting that 90% of the factories, blacksmithing and aluminum workshops, and car maintenance, in addition to sewing, spinning and weaving factories, and shops that rely on electricity around the clock, are "threatened to stop working at any moment." .
He explained that the continuous blockade on the sector for 14 years has led to an increase in the poverty rate among workers by 80%, while the unemployment rate has reached 60%.
Al-Amsi appealed to the need to pressure the occupation to lift the unjust blockade imposed for nearly 14 years on the Gaza Strip, which affected all areas of life, calling on the international community to put pressure on the occupation for the need to solve the electricity problem that the Gaza Strip has been suffering from since 2006.
The gathering of human rights organizations organized a "crowd" today, a protest stand in front of the United Nations headquarters in western Gaza, where they delivered a statement to the secretaries of international and human rights organizations as well as to the High Commissioner to demand, regarding the suspension of the power station and the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing and the Gaza Sea crossing.
