Gaza Plunged Into Darkness As Israeli Fuel Blockade Takes Effect

Parts of Gaza were pitched into darkness last night after its only power plant was shut down following a move by Israel to halt fuel shipments under its new closure of the small, overcrowded strip of land.

Gaza City was plunged into total darkness after fuel supplies ran out, leaving no option but to shut down the plant. Earlier, large queues formed on the streets and at petrol stations and warehouses selling cooking gas as the shortages began to take effect. Blackouts have stretched to 12 hours a day in recent weeks.

The closure came after a week of the most intense conflict between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza for more than a year. Nearly 40 Palestinians have been killed in the past week, at least 10 of them civilians. An Ecuadorian volunteer working on an Israeli kibbutz was shot dead by a Palestinian gunman on Tuesday.

Over the weekend Palestinian militants drastically reduced the number of makeshift rockets they fired into Israel. Israeli officials accused Palestinians of exaggerating the fuel crisis and said the blame lay with the militants.

However, there was swift condemnation of Israel yesterday from Israeli and western human rights groups and from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Rafik Maliha, the director of the power plant, said the last fuel shipment had arrived on Thursday. One turbine was closed down early in the day and the plant's second turbine was expected to be turned off as early as last night. "We are going to shut down completely within hours," Maliha said yesterday.

The plant was built to provide 140 megawatts of electricity but has never operated at that level. At best, officials at the plant say it could produce 80MW. But early last week, before the closure was imposed, it was down to 45MW, enough to provide less than a fifth of the demand from Gaza's 1.5m people. The rest of the electricity is bought from Israel and Egypt.

Israeli officials said the policy was directly linked to the rocket attacks. "If they stop the rockets today, everything would go back to normal," said Arye Mekel, a foreign ministry spokesman. He said the crisis was not as bad as Palestinian officials described. "They have an interest in exaggerating," he said.

However, Oxfam warned Israel was acting unlawfully. "This continuing act of collective punishment is ineffective as well as unlawful," the organization said.