Gaza On/Off

Gaza is a small strip of land of 360km2 located between Egypt and Israel. Since 2007 and the coming to power of Hamas (under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), the Gaza Strip is under a blockade imposed by the Jewish state that applies on its land, sea and air as well as controls everything and people that enter and leave the strip.

Gaza has access to only 45% of it needs in electricity via 3 sources : They purchase 125 MW to Israel, another 40 MW to Egypt and they produce 60 MW with the Gaza power plant.

Energy supply quotas are imposed by Israel since the blockade so Hamas has to dis- tribute electricity by rationing it. In the best case, the gaza people receive 8 hours of electricity per day. During the last war with Israel in the summer 2014, the Gaza po- wer plant was bombed, reducing its production capacity.

Electricity is a key element in the organization of daily life, work and the Gazan eco- nomy. The lack of electricity also has consequences for the pumping and treatment of sewage water. By lack of infrastructure, Gaza rejects every day more than 90 million liters of sewage water into the Mediterranean Sea. Stagnant water causes diseases and infiltrates drinking water in groundwater tablecloths.

Relations with Israel are a huge part of the electricity issue in Gaza but the infighting between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority also play much.

Invoices regarding electricity bought to Israel are payed by the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas. But at the same time, Hamas tries to gain power by allowing people not to pay their electricity bills.

The lack of electricity has a direct impact on the lives of the families in terms of heat or light. The problem is even more important for business owners or industries who must spend each month thousands of shekels to buy gasoline to operate their genera- tors.

The story could be done by three trips to Gaza to focus on different sides of the story (electricity, water) during different times of the year.