KEY POINTS:
JERUSALEM - The European Commission yesterday demanded guarantees that Hamas would not "divert" electricity revenues before ending an increasingly critical shutdown, which has left hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents without power for days.
Gaza's power plant shut down operations on Sunday, causing blackouts across large parts of
the impoverished territory, after the European Union stopped paying for fuel provided by a private Israeli company.
EU officials said they feared Hamas would try to use the power plant - and the revenues generated from EU taxpayer-funded fuel - to bypass a crippling Western boycott to finance its Government.
A top Hamas official in Gaza, Ahmed Youssef, said the group was ready to provide the EU with the assurances it needs to resume the flow of fuel to the plant. He criticised the decision to halt payments, comparing it to what he called Israel's policy of "collective punishment".
EU officials said the payments were suspended after it received information that Hamas was planning to introduce taxes on electricity bills.
"This would not allow us to continue paying for fuel helping to produce the electricity," said EU spokeswoman Antonia Mochan.
"We are ready to resume payment of these fuel deliveries within hours once we have assurances that these taxes will not be introduced."
A senior official in the Hamas Administration in Gaza said the EU's concerns were unfounded. "There is no new tax and we have no plans to introduce any new tax on electricity bills."
Kanaan Abaid, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority, said none of the revenues generated at the plant reached Hamas or its Administration in Gaza.
The EU, the United States and Israel consider Hamas a "terrorist" organisation. They have thrown their financial and political support behind President Mahmoud Abbas and the new Government he established in the occupied West Bank, headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Israeli officials said the EU decided to stop paying for the fuel for the power plant at Fayyad's request. The EU declined to comment and Fayyad's aides were not immediately available.
Since Hamas took over in Gaza, the territory's main border crossings with Israel and Egypt have been closed to all but humanitarian supplies, prompting aid groups to warn of a looming crisis.
As summer temperatures in Gaza soared yesterday, residents sought refuge outdoors and at the beach.
"I cannot stand the heat," said 75-year-old Salem Abu Mustafa, resting on a mattress in the alley outside his home.
The al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, based in Gaza, said the power shortage could lead to a health and sanitation crisis.
The EU has been paying for fuel shipments to the Gaza power plant since 2006. The last EU-funded delivery was on Wednesday. The Nahal Oz border crossing, used to bring in the fuel, was closed on Thursday by Israel, citing a security threat.
- Reuters
