JERUSALEM (JTA) — The delivery of natural gas to Israel from Egypt has resumed nine days after the gas pipeline between the two countries was blown up for the seventh time.
Gas began to flow through the pipeline again on Sunday. Gas had only been delivered for about two weeks prior to the seventh attack, which had prevented the delivery of gas to Israel for several months.
Egypt supplies Israel with more than 40 percent of its natural gas needs to produce electricity; electricity prices have risen by more than 10 percent in Israel since the attacks began.
The first attack on the pipeline came in February during the uprisings against deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. In July, machine-gun toting men overtook guards before blowing up a station in the Sinai. In late September three men fired on the pipeline at a pumping station in the northern Sinai.
The Egyptian government said earlier this month that it would tighten security along the pipeline.
Selling gas to Israel has been unpopular on the Egyptian street since the opening of the pipeline in 2008. Mubarak has been accused of giving Israel a sweetheart deal on the gas, since Egypt lost more than $714 million on the pact.
Jordan recently agreed to pay a higher price for its gas, Reuters reported. Egypt is expected to demand that Israel also agree to a price hike, according to reports.
