Palestinian official: Gazans to live without power 8 hours a day

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Palestinians across the Gaza Strip will have their electricity cut for eight hours every day beginning Sunday because of Israeli fuel cutbacks aimed at pressuring the territory's Hamas rulers, Palestinian officials announced. Over the past few months, Israel has cut fuel shipments to Gaza's only electric plant nearly in half, said Kanan Obeid, chairman of Gaza's energy authority. Gaza now has only 35 percent of the power its 1.5 million residents need, Obeid said. "We are facing a shortage, because the fuel needed is not there, so we have decided to reduce the amount of electricity that we supply and to have a gradual program, starting from today, of cutting the electricity for eight hours every day," Obeid said.