Gaza power supply under pressure

The Gaza Strip continues to suffer daily power cuts eight months after Israel bombed its only power station, leaving health services relying on expensive generators and residents without regular electricity or water. The cuts have continued despite new transformers being installed in November 2006 at the privately owned Gaza Power Generating Company power station. All six of the original transformers were destroyed by Israeli warplanes days after Palestinian militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier last June. "From the third week of December, people have been using more electricity and supply cannot meet the demand," said Stuart Shepherd, humanitarian affairs officer in Gaza for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The cuts have left hospitals relying on diesel generators supplied with fuel financed by foreign donors. "The cost of generators means the budgets of health organizations have increased. There are now no more generators available in Gaza and some organizations don't have them. It leads to problems in keeping drugs and vaccines, which have to be stored in refrigerated conditions," said Youssef Mousa, chairman of the Union of Health Work Committees, which runs Al-Awda hospital in Gaza City. The electricity cuts also leave many families across the Gaza Strip without a regular water supply as the water cannot be pumped to their homes, said Riyad Janina, Gaza director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group. In addition, many Gaza municipalities struggle to secure enough fuel to power electricity generators to keep pumping drinking water from wells, he added. "The situation is not as bad as it was immediately after the bombing, but most municipalities are still having problems and people still have to do without water," he said.