Following
#Israel
's decision to cut the
#electricity
supply to
#Gaza
, I'm sharing a short informational thread with background on Gaza's electricity sector and the consequences of the supply cut: In times of peace, 50% of the electricity in Gaza is provided by Israel for free ->
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-> Gaza also has an independent diesel-fueled power plant that generates 25% of its needs, and the rest is generated through a vast deployment of private diesel generators, and one of the largest share of rooftop solar PV panels in the world. ->
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Gaza residents are used to outages and have an average of 4 hours of electricity per day. Hamas has not bothered to restore the electrical infrastructure in Gaza since it was damaged in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, despite the many foreign aid funds that were provided ->
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-> Residents of Gaza who can afford it have already found independent solutions (diesel generators and solar panels). In a tactical sense, the underground Hamas bunkers and HQ will likely still have electricity because they would have stockpiled diesel fuel for months ahead ->
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-> The broader impact of the power outage will be mainly on the water supply, water desalination, and sewage treatment in Gaza, which needs an electricity supply to operate and can create a crisis if not eventually addressed. /end
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Since I can’t share long videos on this platform, for a more detailed 3-minute video I made on the issue, you can visit my LinkedIn page:
Or Facebook page:
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Regarding free Israeli electricity to Gaza. Technically the Palestinian Authority is billed for it, but that’s just a workaround to satisfy domestic Israeli politics. The PA doesn’t pay the bill, it accumulates the debt for Gaza and every few years the debt is forgiven/erased.
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For those interested in more data on solar panels in Gaza, I recommend the attached paper by Fischhendler, Herman, and David (2022). They used satellite imagery to asses the number of solar energy sites in Gaza. In 2012 they located 12 sites. In 2019 there were 8760 sites.
In new research, we expose that Gaza has become a renewable energy leader despite ongoing conflict and deep poverty. 25% of Gaza’s electricity use solar energy power. There is light at the end of the panel for Gaza and climate change. Check our research
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If you're interested in citing the information in this thread, I wrote a more detailed policy brief on Gaza's electricity supply for
@BESA_Center
. In it, I also discuss the legality of the supply cut in international law. BESA Perspectives Paper No. 2219:
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@BESA_Center
Many reports are coming in that Hamas is stealing diesel from Gaza’s power plant and even from UNRWA facilities and hospitals. This ensures Hamas underground bases can power their diesel generators for months ahead. It’s a common wartime measure, but devastating to population.
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@ElaiRettig
That’s not true. The Palestinian Authority pays for electricity to Gaza it’s not free from israel
@GrishaConsult
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@emilykschrader
@GrishaConsult
That’s just on paper. IEC needs documentation of a debt for financial reports. But the PA debt is never payed and is eventually forgiven every few years. The electricity debt currently stands at 2b NIS = around 500m USD.
Regarding free Israeli electricity to Gaza. Technically the Palestinian Authority is billed for it, but that’s just a workaround to satisfy domestic Israeli politics. The PA doesn’t pay the bill, it accumulates the debt for Gaza and every few years the debt is forgiven/erased.
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@ElaiRettig
@MattGoldstein26
Can you provide a reference or source for the free electricity claim? What I found was that electricity is bought by the Palestinian Authorities from IEC, i.e billed for it rather than being free.
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@mohannadaama
@MattGoldstein26
Technically the Palestinian Authority is billed for the electricity to Gaza, but that’s just a workaround to satisfy domestic politics in Israel. The Palestinian Authority doesn’t actually pay the bill, and every few years the debt is forgiven and erased. Current debt is 2b NIS
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@ElaiRettig
@SaraHirschhorn1
Again ignoring that Gaza's 1 generation station has run out of fuel.
I have to wonder if this propagandist is well paid for his sophistry.
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@CivtechDev
@SaraHirschhorn1
Hamas indeed reported that the power station has already ran out of fuel, but the plant’s diesel storage capacity is designed to last for at least two weeks. This means that Hamas emptied the storage itself. Most likely to power its own generators in the bunkers to last longer.
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@ElaiRettig
It would be nice, if you could enlarge the map respectively upload it with a higher solution.
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@haichaoyin8
I tried to upload the map again with better resolution. You can also find this map on the website of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA)
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@ElaiRettig
Thank you for the detailed graphic and explanation. Do you happen to know how much water supplied to the Strip comes from various sources as well?
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@archivescw
Around 10% of Gaza’s water comes from Israel. The rest is produced from local reservoirs in Gaza, but 70% of that is undrinkable. UN invested in water treatment plant, but sketchy electricity provision + theft of water pipelines by Hamas forces population to rely on water trucks
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@ElaiRettig
Why would Israel provide electricity to Gaza for free?
Surely they should encourage them to be independently powered?
Unless some dependence on Israel is encouraged?
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@rolandhoskins1
1/2 The legal consensus is that Israel is obligated to provide Gaza with electricity, despite not technically occupying it since 2005. Although it’s not required to do so for free, it fears that cutting it for non-payment will create a crisis followed by international pressure ->
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