Ref: 24/2020
Date: 18 Aug 2020
An urgent notification regarding the suspension of the only power station in Gaza due to the Israeli restrictions, the electricity deficit reaches 75%
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights ICSPR highly appreciates your constant keenness to intervene in order to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, and we are address you today to put you in the picture of the unprecedented deterioration of the humanitarian conditions in Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority declared in the Gaza Strip; Yesterday, Sunday, August 16, 2020, the Gaza power station (the only one in Gaza) will stop at full production capacity at 10 am tomorrow, next Tuesday, August 18, 2020, due to the fuel run out as a result of the Israeli occupation forces ’decision to stop the supply of The fuel needed to operate the station since Wednesday, August 12, 2020, from the Kerem Shalom crossing point.
The power outage crisis in the Gaza Strip; Has been going on for years; The crisis takes on a profound dimension when the sole power plant stops operating; What will exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation; As the expected reduction in the hours of supplying electricity to all vital, health, educational, environmental and citizen facilities will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis, especially at this time of the year.
The exacerbation of the electricity crisis will have dire impacts on the realization of human rights in the Gaza Strip, as nearly 20 million Palestinians will be deprived of the services provided by vital sectors, especially the water sector; It will also leave disastrous consequences for poor wastewater treatment.
It is expected with the beginning of the crisis that the only power plant stopped working, the electric deficit will reach 75%, which will cause the vital economic sectors, especially the owners of workshops and shops, to suffer great economic losses, in light of the continuing deterioration of their humanitarian conditions due to the Israeli blockade and the harsh measures designed to limit the spread Corona virus in Gaza Strip.
The ICSPR bears the responsibility in the first place; Holding the Israeli military occupation authorities directly legal responsibility for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions of the residents of the Gaza Strip, as it is the occupying power under the rules of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and because of the continued imposition of the illegal blockade on the Strip as a form of collective punishment, as well as The international community bears responsibility for the continued deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip due to failure to fulfill its legal and moral duties and its failure to pressure the occupying power to end the unjust blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.
We hope that you will work to protect and respect the inherent human dignity of the Palestinian human being as a value that cannot justify its waste, or be linked to a financial or political bargain, and cannot justify causing this human suffering that could lead to the loss of human lives
