Who is behind Gaza’s renewed electricity crisis?

The Gaza Strip is in the midst of an electricity shortage that has left residents with just a few hours of power a day, turning many aspects of everyday life in the Hamas-ruled territory upside down and raising concerns about a humanitarian crisis.

Palestinians react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops during clashes at a protest against reducing power supply to Gaza, near the border with Israel in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 20, 2017.

What caused the crisis?

Gaza’s power woes began in 2006, when Israel bombed the territory’s power plant after Hamas-allied militants captured an Israeli soldier. It took years for the power plant to be fixed, and Gaza has long relied on electricity purchased from neighboring Israel and Egypt.

The power plant has not operated since April after emergency fuel shipments, purchased from Israel by Hamas allies Qatar and Turkey, ended. Electricity deliveries from Egypt, which is busy fighting its own Islamic militants, are unreliable. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, locked in a bitter rivalry with Hamas, wants to reduce electricity purchases for Gaza by about 40 percent.

Palestinian security forces stand guard at the border as trucks carrying fuel enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on June 21, 2017.

What does Abbas want?

The Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Abbas’ forces, leaving him in control only of autonomous zones in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Abbas has paid for Gaza’s electricity for the past decade. But after repeated failures at reconciliation with Hamas, he has decided he no longer wants to subsidize the group’s rule.

What is Israel's strategy?

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman speaks during the Herzliya Conference on June 22, 2017 in the central Israeli city of Herzliya.

Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman tried to describe the crisis as an internal Palestinian matter and said Israel is merely a “supplier.”

“We are not a side in this issue. They pay, they get electricity. They don’t pay, they don’t get electricity,” he said, accusing Hamas of wasting its limited funds on weapons and attack tunnels.

Is there anything Hamas can do?

The internationally isolated Hamas is in a grave financial crisis. Already struggling to pay the salaries of its thousands of civil servants and security men, it cannot afford to buy fuel. It is also unlikely to significantly cut spending on its military activities – the base of its support.

It will continue to appeal to Abbas to resume the fuel purchases and will likely seek help from Qatar and Turkey. But both countries are distracted with their own problems and in Qatar’s case, under heavy international pressure to cut ties with Hamas.

What is the effect on daily life?

Palestinian kids read book by candle light due to power cut at the Jabalia Camp in Gaza City, Gaza on June 27, 2017.

Because of the power cuts, residents are now getting only two to four hours of power at a time.

Residents must carefully plan daily tasks such as doing the laundry or taking a shower when they expect to have power, even if that means waking up in the middle of the night. Many Gazan homes use electric water pumps, so no electricity also means no water.

Many residents have already expressed dissatisfaction under Hamas rule. But the group is quick to suppress any signs of public dissent. For Gazans, there does not seem to be any alternative in sight.

(CGTN)