WORLD / Middle East |
Gaza sinks into darkness amid attacks on Israel(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-21 11:35 GAZA -- Mohamed Nasrallah joined in a long queue outside a Gaza bakery to buy a package of breads worth US$2.5 on Sunday, as Israel has closed all Gaza Strip crossings and barred fuels, basic food supplies and medicine into the poor and densely populated enclave.
Nasrallah, a 45-year-old father of four, exchanged anger with his countrymen in the queue over the ongoing deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip amid a major severe humanitarian crisis expected within the coming hours, due to the shortage of fuel, electricity and food. Gaza's only electrical plant announced on Sunday that it would shut down later in the day after an Israeli border closure blocked the entry of fuel that powers it. In coordination with the Israeli government, Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided on Friday to close all Gaza Strip crossings, barring fuels to operate the Gaza power plant, fuels for gas stations as well as major food products and medical supplies. "We were told that there will be no fuels for Gaza at all, and we don't know what to do," said Nasrallah, adding "this means that life will completely stop in every house, every factory, every street and every hospital."
He said that the whole life in Gaza will stop, "if there are no fuels for Gaza power plant and for vehicles. Consequently, Gaza Strip will sink into darkness, where hospitals, clinics, factories, bakeries ... everything will stop." Gazans have been living with fuel cutbacks, power and supplies shortages for months. The power plant provides a third of the electricity for the territory's residents, thus the shutdown would largely affect the 400,000 people in Gaza City, which houses the territory's main population.
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