Hamas, PA feud worsens Gaza power crisis
gaza — As Middle East summer temperatures soar above 35 degrees Celsius, Gazans are struggling to stay cool amid a power crisis, with less than four hours of electricity a day and little chance to run fans and air-conditioners.
The power crisis is affecting health and sanitation — because sewage treatment plants can’t run, raw sewage is pouring into the Mediterranean — and now the elderly and sick are desperately trying to handle the heat.
Plastic trays and scraps of cardboard are doubling as hand-held fans. Piped water is hosed over children and work animals.Those trying to sleep have abandoned clammy mattresses, preferring the relative cool of bare tiled floors.
Hoping to pressure the Hamas group to relinquish control of Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has reduced his administration’s payments to Israel for the electricity it supplies to Gaza. That has left the 2 million Palestinians there with only a few hours of power a day.
Hospitals and other emergency facilities have made do with backup generators. Few ordinary Palestinians have that option.
A family excursion to the beach that might elsewhere have been a delight was, for Sabah Joudah, a forced decision, especially when having to put up with the sewage problems.
“We came here to entertain the children, even though the sea is polluted,” she said as the dirty surf lapped close by. “It is summer and there is no electricity; no water and no fans are working in our homes. It is very tough, very tough.”
Environment officials say disruptions at sewage treatment facilities have meant more than 100,000 litres of untreated wastewater is discharged along the coast daily. Around 75 per cent of the seawater is polluted.
Swimming there frequently leaves children with skin inflammations and abdominal complaints, parents say.
In the southern town of Khan Younis, a woman bathed her children in a bucket in the street, while a man doused his horse with water. — Reuters