Refuse collection stops in Gaza due to lack of fuel

Crisis in the Gaza Strip, where electricity runs low due to lack of fuel, is aggravating as municipalities on Sunday stopped garbage collection. Mohammed Al-Farra, minister of local governing in Gaza's Hamas government, said that all refuse trucks have run out of diesel and won't be able to collect the 17,000 tons of rubbish they used to pick up on daily basis. Egyptian clampdown on smuggling tunnels along Sinai's borders with Gaza made Hamas unable to bring cheap fuel that had imported for years. The lack of fuel also led Hamas to idling the lone power plant in the enclave since November 1, leaving Gaza's 1.7 million people dependent on electricity purchased directly from Israel and Egypt, with power failures and scheduled blackouts reaching up to 18 hours a day. Al-Farra said Hamas, the Islamic movement that took over Gaza in 2007, can't afford buying fuel from Israel, which is three-time higher in price than the Egyptian fuel. Horse or donkey-drawn carts would be used instead to remove rubbish in certain parts of the Gaza Strip, especially the over populated areas. Al-Farra says the municipalities need 150,000 liters of diesel each day for waste management, including the removal of garbage. The lack of fuel also caused some sewage stations to overflow, drinking water to intermittently reach households and businesses to cut their production or working hours. On Thursday, United Nations officials warned that humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to worsen, urging all concerned parties, including Israel and Egypt, to lift restrictions on the movement of people and goods to Gaza. The shift of Egypt's policy toward Gaza also include the frequent closure and restrictions on Rafah crossing point, Gaza's only main gate to the outside world. This followed the overthrow of Egyptian Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July who was a Hamas patron.