Israel delivers fuel to Gaza on Wednesday as Defense Minister Barak had promised -- but late
Marian Houk
April 16, 2008
Mahmoud Al-Khizindar, the deputy director of the Gaza federation of gas stations told journalists in Gaza on Wednesday afternoon, after a day of near-despair, that 180,000 liters of industrial fuel and 88 tons of cooking gas were being shipped to the Gaza Strip.
Israel´s Defense Minister Ehud Barak had promised that industrial diesel fuel used only by Gaza´s one power plant would be shipped on Wednesday, after a halt in deliveries since 9 April, following an attack from Gaza that killed two Israelis working as fuel truck drivers and/or security guards for the private Dor Alon company that has an exclusive contract to deliver all fuels to Gaza.
Dr. Rafiq Maliha, Director of Contracts at Gaza´s sole power plant, said that he had only received one truck, carrying 45,000 liters of fuel. "We have heard that they would try to deliver as much as possible today, but they did not give any quantity – and they started late". He indicated that he was very nervous about a hiatus in deliveries during the forthcoming Passover holidays.
In any case, the power plant needs about 320,000 liters a fuel a day (160,000 liters for each of its two operating turbines) to maintain a minimum level of operations, and put out 65 MW of electricity a day. But for several weeks now, the Gaza Power Plant was only able to putting out around 55 MW a day. On Monday the output was reduced to 45 MW, and today the load was reduced further today, to 40 MW, to try to cope with the dwindling fuel supply.
Maliha said earlier that "There are always blackouts, but the frequency and duration is now greater".
It had appeared through the day that the promised fuel would not arrive, and that shut-down might be imminent.
Maliha said earlier that "If fuel were entering Gaza, I would be receiving it now", Maliha said. "But there is not even any coordination at the crossing".
Since Tuesday, there were indications that the problem was with the supplier. Dor Alon, a private company, is the only supplier of all fuel to the Gaza Strip, and its workers are refusing to function in the current security situation at Nahal Oz. Dor Alon would not comment, and referred this journalist to its Tel Aviv public relations agency.
Ruth Shetreet, the head of the public relations agency, later returned calls. Could we speak with Dor Alon CEO, Dov ("Dudi") Weisglass – or to anyone else at Dor Alon for that matter – to understand the situation? "No! No! Totally NO!", Shetreet replied. "We are only a very small player in this. We don´t conduct policy or strategy. This is much higher politics than you imagine…We get orders to deliver, and we deliver. We get orders not to deliver, and we don´t deliver. My formal response is: We act according to the instructions of the Army and the Ministry of Defense."
The IDF spokesman´s office told this journalist on Tuesday night that the IDF does not control Nahal Oz – it is in the hands of "a private company" – and that it does not recommend anyone going there to see what´s happening, as "the situation is extremely, extremely dangerous".
Earlier Tuesday, Ministry of Defense spokesperson Shlomo Dror said that "the Army is in the area", but that issue of security at Nahal Oz is, in fact, shared between "the company, us, and the Palestinians".
IDF forces were operating overnight in the area around Nahal Oz, the only fuel transfer point between Israel and Gaza, presumably to secure the area in order to carry out Defense Minister Ehud Barak´s decision to resume deliveries on Wednesday – though only of the industrial diesel that is used to operate the power plant, and only at the reduced quantity fixed after the imposition of Phase I military-ordered sanctions against Gaza, which is 2.2 million liters a week.
It was not possible to reach either the Defense Ministry Spokesman, or the Coordination of (Israeli) Government activities in the territories on Wednesday morning.
At midday on Wednesday, the IDF confirmed that three of its soldiers had been killed in an operation inside Gaza earlier in the day — and that fuel deliveries to Gaza were again being "frozen".
A few hours later, a U.S. Consulate (in Jerusalem) spokesperson told this reporter that: "We feel that the resumption of fuel shipments will ease the burden on the innocent people of Gaza, and we expect Israel to meet the commitment it made to resume the fuel shipments. The Government of Israel has said that any steps it takes in Gaza will meet the humanitarian needs there".
Barak told Israeli journalists on Monday that he made the decision to resume shipments for Gaza´s power plant starting on Wednesday, because otherwise it would have to shut down by the end of the week if no further supply of industrial diesel fuel arrived.
By waiting until the last possible moment, Barak managed to create the maximum possible tension, and to keep the power plant on the very brink of shut-down for days.
The Ministry of Defense has promised Israel´s Supreme Court that it will not allow a humanitarian crisis to develop in the Gaza Strip – and in part on this basis, the Court did not act to block either the military-imposed cuts in fuel, or separate proposed cuts in directly-supplied Israeli electricity.
Ordinary diesel fuel that is used to operate stand-by and back-up generators and to run some vehicles, and gasoline for cars, will not be delivered. The IDF says that the Nahal Oz storage tanks are full of this type of fuel that has not been picked up – leading to a certain amount of confusion, and a heated argument about manufactured crises.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Aryeh Mekel told this reporter on Wednesday morning that the Defense Minister ordered the fuel to go in, and he expected it will go in, later today. "But, don't forget why there is a problem", Mekel said, "it's because last week they attacked the delivery site".
There's also a problem because military-ordered fuel sanctions aim at keeping Gaza as a whole on the edge of a crisis -- while professing to be conscious of the need to avoid a crisis. The Gaza power plant has not been allowed to replenish its reserves that have been depleted since Phase I supply cuts were instituted on 28 October. The Gaza power plant has already had to shut down once -- on 22 January -- because the IDF cut off fuel deliveries due to fighting around the Nahal Oz delivery area.
Cooking gas will be delivered now, the Defense Ministry says.
Normally, there has been sufficient cooking gas supplied to Gaza, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza. The normal needs are for 250,000 liters of cooking gas a day. But now, the demand is around 300,000 liters a day. Why? "Because the people have converted their cars to run on cooking gas rather than on benzene which is not available, and the majority of the cars that are running in Gaza today are using cooking gas", he said.
United Nations agencies working on the ground in the occupied Palestinian territory have joined in calls for an immediate resumption fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday afternoon, eight United Nations humanitarian and development agencies issued a joint statement on Tuesday afternoon saying they are "gravely concerned about the limited fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip which are having a severe impact upon daily life for the population, and UN operations".
Their statement said that "The current situation is a threat to the health and well-being of the population of the Gaza Strip, fifty six per cent of whom are children. The work of the United Nations organizations in Gaza has been severely hampered affecting schools, health facilities, and food distribution".
They also said that "Israel´s announcement that it will resume deliveries of fuel to the power plant is a positive step, but is insufficient to address the severe shortages of fuel used for transport and generators".
UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness, reached by phone while on mission in Jordan, said that "We really don´t have enough fuel for our own operations. Food deliveries are being affected. There are 100,000 staff and students at UNRWA training centers that cannot get to their classrooms. Medicines are not being delivered to hospitals. UNRWA released some of its fuel to keep the Ministry of Health´s Cold Storage operations functioning. Now, the situation is really critical in Gaza".
Sari Bashi, Executive Director of Gisha, the Israeli human rights organization that spearheaded the effort to get the Supreme Court to block the military-ordered cuts, said on Wednesday that "The military has assumed responsibility for the flow of fuel into Gaza, and it has issued orders to a private company instructing them how to deliver the fuel, and how much to deliver to Gaza — and it owes obligations to the people in Gaza because it is an occupying power. There are very real security concerns (at Nahal Oz), but the military must find a solution to those concerns that will also allow the fuel in — and if they can allow industrial diesel fuel in, they can allow all the fuel in".
Israel´s Defense Minister Ehud Barak had promised that industrial diesel fuel used only by Gaza´s one power plant would be shipped on Wednesday, after a halt in deliveries since 9 April, following an attack from Gaza that killed two Israelis working as fuel truck drivers and/or security guards for the private Dor Alon company that has an exclusive contract to deliver all fuels to Gaza.
Dr. Rafiq Maliha, Director of Contracts at Gaza´s sole power plant, said that he had only received one truck, carrying 45,000 liters of fuel. "We have heard that they would try to deliver as much as possible today, but they did not give any quantity – and they started late". He indicated that he was very nervous about a hiatus in deliveries during the forthcoming Passover holidays.
In any case, the power plant needs about 320,000 liters a fuel a day (160,000 liters for each of its two operating turbines) to maintain a minimum level of operations, and put out 65 MW of electricity a day. But for several weeks now, the Gaza Power Plant was only able to putting out around 55 MW a day. On Monday the output was reduced to 45 MW, and today the load was reduced further today, to 40 MW, to try to cope with the dwindling fuel supply.
Maliha said earlier that "There are always blackouts, but the frequency and duration is now greater".
It had appeared through the day that the promised fuel would not arrive, and that shut-down might be imminent.
Maliha said earlier that "If fuel were entering Gaza, I would be receiving it now", Maliha said. "But there is not even any coordination at the crossing".
Since Tuesday, there were indications that the problem was with the supplier. Dor Alon, a private company, is the only supplier of all fuel to the Gaza Strip, and its workers are refusing to function in the current security situation at Nahal Oz. Dor Alon would not comment, and referred this journalist to its Tel Aviv public relations agency.
Ruth Shetreet, the head of the public relations agency, later returned calls. Could we speak with Dor Alon CEO, Dov ("Dudi") Weisglass – or to anyone else at Dor Alon for that matter – to understand the situation? "No! No! Totally NO!", Shetreet replied. "We are only a very small player in this. We don´t conduct policy or strategy. This is much higher politics than you imagine…We get orders to deliver, and we deliver. We get orders not to deliver, and we don´t deliver. My formal response is: We act according to the instructions of the Army and the Ministry of Defense."
The IDF spokesman´s office told this journalist on Tuesday night that the IDF does not control Nahal Oz – it is in the hands of "a private company" – and that it does not recommend anyone going there to see what´s happening, as "the situation is extremely, extremely dangerous".
Earlier Tuesday, Ministry of Defense spokesperson Shlomo Dror said that "the Army is in the area", but that issue of security at Nahal Oz is, in fact, shared between "the company, us, and the Palestinians".
IDF forces were operating overnight in the area around Nahal Oz, the only fuel transfer point between Israel and Gaza, presumably to secure the area in order to carry out Defense Minister Ehud Barak´s decision to resume deliveries on Wednesday – though only of the industrial diesel that is used to operate the power plant, and only at the reduced quantity fixed after the imposition of Phase I military-ordered sanctions against Gaza, which is 2.2 million liters a week.
It was not possible to reach either the Defense Ministry Spokesman, or the Coordination of (Israeli) Government activities in the territories on Wednesday morning.
At midday on Wednesday, the IDF confirmed that three of its soldiers had been killed in an operation inside Gaza earlier in the day — and that fuel deliveries to Gaza were again being "frozen".
A few hours later, a U.S. Consulate (in Jerusalem) spokesperson told this reporter that: "We feel that the resumption of fuel shipments will ease the burden on the innocent people of Gaza, and we expect Israel to meet the commitment it made to resume the fuel shipments. The Government of Israel has said that any steps it takes in Gaza will meet the humanitarian needs there".
Barak told Israeli journalists on Monday that he made the decision to resume shipments for Gaza´s power plant starting on Wednesday, because otherwise it would have to shut down by the end of the week if no further supply of industrial diesel fuel arrived.
By waiting until the last possible moment, Barak managed to create the maximum possible tension, and to keep the power plant on the very brink of shut-down for days.
The Ministry of Defense has promised Israel´s Supreme Court that it will not allow a humanitarian crisis to develop in the Gaza Strip – and in part on this basis, the Court did not act to block either the military-imposed cuts in fuel, or separate proposed cuts in directly-supplied Israeli electricity.
Ordinary diesel fuel that is used to operate stand-by and back-up generators and to run some vehicles, and gasoline for cars, will not be delivered. The IDF says that the Nahal Oz storage tanks are full of this type of fuel that has not been picked up – leading to a certain amount of confusion, and a heated argument about manufactured crises.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Aryeh Mekel told this reporter on Wednesday morning that the Defense Minister ordered the fuel to go in, and he expected it will go in, later today. "But, don't forget why there is a problem", Mekel said, "it's because last week they attacked the delivery site".
There's also a problem because military-ordered fuel sanctions aim at keeping Gaza as a whole on the edge of a crisis -- while professing to be conscious of the need to avoid a crisis. The Gaza power plant has not been allowed to replenish its reserves that have been depleted since Phase I supply cuts were instituted on 28 October. The Gaza power plant has already had to shut down once -- on 22 January -- because the IDF cut off fuel deliveries due to fighting around the Nahal Oz delivery area.
Cooking gas will be delivered now, the Defense Ministry says.
Normally, there has been sufficient cooking gas supplied to Gaza, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza. The normal needs are for 250,000 liters of cooking gas a day. But now, the demand is around 300,000 liters a day. Why? "Because the people have converted their cars to run on cooking gas rather than on benzene which is not available, and the majority of the cars that are running in Gaza today are using cooking gas", he said.
United Nations agencies working on the ground in the occupied Palestinian territory have joined in calls for an immediate resumption fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday afternoon, eight United Nations humanitarian and development agencies issued a joint statement on Tuesday afternoon saying they are "gravely concerned about the limited fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip which are having a severe impact upon daily life for the population, and UN operations".
Their statement said that "The current situation is a threat to the health and well-being of the population of the Gaza Strip, fifty six per cent of whom are children. The work of the United Nations organizations in Gaza has been severely hampered affecting schools, health facilities, and food distribution".
They also said that "Israel´s announcement that it will resume deliveries of fuel to the power plant is a positive step, but is insufficient to address the severe shortages of fuel used for transport and generators".
UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness, reached by phone while on mission in Jordan, said that "We really don´t have enough fuel for our own operations. Food deliveries are being affected. There are 100,000 staff and students at UNRWA training centers that cannot get to their classrooms. Medicines are not being delivered to hospitals. UNRWA released some of its fuel to keep the Ministry of Health´s Cold Storage operations functioning. Now, the situation is really critical in Gaza".
Sari Bashi, Executive Director of Gisha, the Israeli human rights organization that spearheaded the effort to get the Supreme Court to block the military-ordered cuts, said on Wednesday that "The military has assumed responsibility for the flow of fuel into Gaza, and it has issued orders to a private company instructing them how to deliver the fuel, and how much to deliver to Gaza — and it owes obligations to the people in Gaza because it is an occupying power. There are very real security concerns (at Nahal Oz), but the military must find a solution to those concerns that will also allow the fuel in — and if they can allow industrial diesel fuel in, they can allow all the fuel in".
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