Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said on Wednesday that Palestine, Qatar and the European Union are cooperating to resolve the chronic electricity crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Ishtaye said in a statement that he met with EU Representative to Palestine Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff on Wednesday and discussed ways to resolve Gaza's electricity problems.
He said Palestine is working with Qatar and the EU to address Gaza's electricity problems and that a meeting of all parties will soon be held to deal with this issue.
"Qatar and the EU will contribute to delivering the gas to the power station in the Gaza Strip to ensure the regular supply of electricity in the coastal enclave," he added.
On Sunday, Mohammed al-Emadi, the Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip, said in a statement that Qatar is cooperating with the EU, the United Nations, France and Germany to supply the Gaza Strip with gas.
Al-Emadi said a gas pipeline project is dedicated to supplying the only power plant in the Gaza Strip with gas instead of fuel.
He mentioned two possible contracts for the gas pipeline project: the first is for purchasing gas between the Palestinian Authority and Israel's Delek company, while the other for extending the gas pipelines from Israel to the Gaza Strip.
"The Europeans will allocate 5 million U.S. dollars to install gas pipelines from the border with Israel to the power plant in central Gaza, while Qatar will install the pipes inside Israel," al-Emadi said.
The Gaza Strip, home of more than 2 million people, needs 500 megawatts of electricity every day, in which 120 megawatts are from Israel, 30 megawatts from Egypt, and 350 megawatts generated by its power plant.
Editor: Galia
