As the spotlight moves away from Gaza, there is grave cause for concern as the conditions under which its population are living continues to deteriorate. The fuel crisis which has been ongoing since Israel imposed its inhumane siege has now reached a point of catastrophe.

The people of Gaza are facing power outages on a daily basis due to Israel restricting the amount of Industrial Fuel being allowed into Gaza. All aspects of daily life and public services are being affected.

The EU stopped funding fuel costs on 20th November 2009. The financing for the fuel was part of the financial aid that the EU was committed to provide to the Palestinian Authority (PA). However, the EU are denying that a contract existed and are insisting that a new agreement and payment terms are agreed with the PA in Ramallah.

While the EU and the PA wrangle over who will pay, the beleaguered population of Gaza are enduring rolling power cuts, with power being switched off for 8 hours at a time in certain areas of Gaza.

The ongoing Power cuts are resulting in many aspects of everyday life being affected and resulting in grave concern for the health of the people living in the Strip. Basic necessities such as satisfactorily functioning sewage works are not even being met.

”Cutting off fuel ... is a crime against humanity because the victims of this crime will be children and the elderly and the sick,” said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman.

There are also fears that the fuel may totally run out - the results of which would be absolutely devastating.