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As winter approaches, the Gaza nights are gradually lighting up, for more than a week: in the blockaded Palestinian enclave, which survived in recent months with about four hours of power a day, electricity returns gradually.
Since October 25, the Gaza Strip is connected to electricity on average between nine and 11 hours a day according to a UN report, residents claiming to have even received up to 16 hours of power.
This rare good news in the Palestinian enclave subjected to a strict land, sea and air blockade by Israel for more than ten years was made possible by the agreement around oil deliveries, allowing to increase the production of the unique Gaza power station.
The arrangement was achieved as indirect negotiations are underway between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement, which leads the enclave, under the auspices of Egypt and the UN.
They aim to achieve a lasting truce after more than seven months of demonstrations and clashes along the fence that separates Gaza from Israel. Since the beginning of this protest movement, at least 218 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed.
The aim is to avoid another major conflict between the enclave and Israel, which have already fought three wars since 2008.
The results are already being felt on the economy of the impoverished enclave: companies can work longer, the loads are less heavy for the restaurants and the ice cream is back on the stalls.
Kamal Fattoum is the boss of a cardboard factory. The margins are tight and could disappear if ever he had to run a generator.
His work days were until then modeled on the hours when electricity was available. Now, "instead of working four hours, we can work eight hours or more," he says.
– The opposition of Abbas –
As part of the deal, oil entering Gaza is being paid 60 million dollars (52.5 million euros) for six months by Qatar, long-standing supporter of Hamas. The UN plays the intercessors and Israel pbades the tanks.
This arrangement was concluded without the support of the Palestinian Authority, the main interlocutor of foreign leaders, who no longer exercises its limited power, but on the occupied West Bank occupied by Israel.
Its president, Mahmoud Abbas, lost control of Gaza in 2007 after deadly clashes between his party, Fatah, and Hamas, winner of the 2006 parliamentary elections. Since then, both sides are at loggerheads and attempts at reconciliation to the point of death.
As a result, Israel has imposed a strict blockade on the enclave that it justifies by the need to contain Hamas, an organization he calls "terrorist" and accuses of diverting international aid to buy weapons .
Officials from the UN and human rights organizations have called for the blockade to be lifted, pointing out that it is one of the main causes of the impoverishment of nearly two million people in the country. the enclave, 80% of which are dependent on aid.
Mahmoud Abbas rejects the arrangement that he believes legitimate Hamas control over the enclave. It has also imposed coercive measures on Gaza, blocking and decreasing the salaries of civil servants paid by the Palestinian Authority.
– Deceptive Hope –
Thanks to these deliveries of fuel oil, coupled with electricity that Gaza was already receiving from Israel, the enclave now receives about 200 megawatts, says Mohamed Thabet, spokesman for the energy distribution company.
It's still below the 500 megawatts needed to get current all the time but distribution has already more than doubled.
"We paid about 800 shekels (190 euros) a day for 12 hours of power supplied by a generator," says Karam Al-Tali, a restaurant manager in Gaza City. "Now, it's just three o'clock."
In a statement to AFP, UN envoy for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, emphasizes that Qatar's aid has made "the difference in a visible way".
"This should show the way for what other donors can do if they want to avoid war and help those in need," he added.
As talks continue for a lasting truce, last Friday's protests were among the quietest since the protest movement began on March 30 against the blockade and the return of Palestinians to the lands they fled. or from which they were driven out at the creation of Israel in 1948.
But the return of electricity to Gaza can be a deceptive hope. Western diplomats say that as long as Hamas controls the enclave, no real reconstruction can take place.
And the power cuts could resume quickly, with the start-up of the heaters when the winter cold settles in Gaza.
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