Hamas Creates Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

One wonders what the United Nations, including John Dugard, will say about the humanitarian crisis Hamas is trying to create by shutting down Gaza's power plant. Amazingly, at the present time, if it was not for Israel, Gaza would have absolutely no electricity.

Most likely, the United Nations will find a way to blame Israel.

Hamas shuts down Gaza power plant

(From the Jerusalem Post)

Gaza City was plunged into darkness after nightfall Sunday when Hamas officials shut down the territory's only electricity plant, following a cutoff of fuel from Israel.

Israel blockaded Gaza Thursday as a pressure tactic against militants who have been firing rockets at Israel every day. The stricken power plant generates about one third of Gaza's electricity. The rest, which comes from Israel, was not affected by the blockade, Israeli officials said.

But Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for Israel's defense ministry, said Gaza has enough fuel to run the plant, and accused Palestinian officials of trying to create the impression of a crisis that did not exist.

[Yet Hamas is trying to create the impression of a crisis, inconveniencing its own people, in an attempt to win a propaganda victory. Once again, the Palestinian Arab leadership demonstrates it's far more interested in destroying Israel than in the welfare of its own people.]

Barak's decision came after Hamas renewed Kassam rocket fire last week, resulting in unusually heavy barrages on Sderot. The defense minister decided then to tighten the blockade on the Strip, saying that only humanitarian cases of an extreme nature would be considered.

In addition to the fuel it receives from Israel to power its electrical plant, Gaza gets about two-thirds of its electricity directly from Israel. Israeli officials said that supply would not be affected.

[Even as the people of Gaza pound Israelis with Kassams and mortar fire, Israel continues to do more for them than their own leaders.]

The UN organization in charge of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, warned the move would drastically affect hospitals, sewage treatment plants and water facilities.

"The logic of this defies basic humanitarian standards," said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency.

[A rare moment of truth for the United Nations.]

Cabinet minister Zeev Boim said that rather than condemning Israel's move, the UN should condemn Palestinian terrorists for subjecting Israeli civilians to barrages of rockets. "I don't hear the UN's voice," Boim said.

The Nahal Oz fuel terminal in Israel that supplies Gaza remained closed Sunday because of the Palestinian rocket fire, defense ministry spokesman Dror said. But there was still fuel in Gaza, and the closure would not lead to a crisis, he said.

"If they shut it down, it's not because of a fuel shortage, but because they want to create the impression of a crisis," Dror said. The power plant shutdown, he said, would "not be comfortable, but it's not a humanitarian crisis."

Despite the damage the sanctions were causing Gaza's population, Hamas said its attacks on Israel would not cease.

"We will not raise the white flag, and we will not surrender," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

[Translation: Israel may have given us Gaza, but we still want to destroy Israel and don't care whether we destroy our own people in the process.]