Hamas shut down Gaza City’s only power plant, claiming Israel did not provide enough fuel to run it.
But the Israeli government accused Hamas of creating the crisis, The Associated Press reported.
The power plant supplies electricity to the 400,000 residents of Gaza City and surrounding communities, who will continue to receive six hours of electricity a day from land lines connected to Israel.
The AP reported that Hamas is believed to be hoarding fuel supplies transferred each week from Israel in order to provide their loyalists with fuel.
A power plant official told the AP that the 500,000 gallons of diesel fuel provided by Israel last week was not enough, causing a shortage of fuel on Saturday afternoon. West Bank fuel authorities said the fuel should have been enough to last until Monday evening.
An Israeli military spokesman told AP that Israel did not provide the full amount of fuel last week because of Palestinian mortars fired at the fuel depot on the Israeli-Gaza border.
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