Gaza power plant to shut down

The only power station in the Gaza Strip will stop functioning by Wednesday evening due to the lack of fuel, a Palestinian energy official said on Tuesday.

"The stored industrial diesel will run out in the evening tomorrow and the station will stop," said Kan'an Obaid, deputy director of the Palestinian Energy Authority.

"The total of shortage will be 35 percent while in Gaza Cityalone will be 50 percent," he said, adding that Gaza City's 800,000 people will be affected.

Jamal al-Khodari, a parliamentarian who leads a campaign against Israeli siege on Gaza, said "the Israeli occupation withholds the delivery of all kinds of fuel into Gaza for 13 days, including the fuel of the power plant."