Electricity-deprived Gaza Palestinians escape to the beach

As summer arrives and temperatures rise day by day the only escape and way to cool for the people of Gaza to cool off during the intermittent hour-long electricity cuts, is to head to the beach with their families.  The beach gets so crowded at times that you can barely step foot on it, as Palestinians flock to its cooling waves to seek refuge from the lack of electricity and the irritating sound of electric generators in their homes. The main concern for the people of Gaza at the moment is the weather, as temperatures have never been this high before, and it seems as though there is no solution to the problem. Electricity cuts have affected all aspects of life in Gaza, as the electricity companies and energy providers have scheduled specific times to cut off electricity in certain parts of Gaza. However, the cuts are unorganized due to the excessive demand on electricity lines because of the rise in temperatures, in return making it difficult for families to cope with this worrying situation that seems to have no hope of ending anytime soon. Since the beginning of summer, people in Gaza have been upset by the electricity cuts which can last up to 8 hours a day, and sometimes even longer. Although they have prepared themselves for this the reality is that they cannot return to their normal routines, or live normally, as there is no substitute for electricity. For example, they need fridges to preserve their food and eat healthily. However, the electricity problem is not only linked to the summer, and does not only affect food and drink.  It has a wider effect on people’s health, and hospitals are suffering immensely; especially on account of those patients whose life depends on being treated by medical machinery. Ahmed El-Aklouk, a 33-year-old man who was at the beach with his family, told ArabsToday: “It feels like we just can’t live without a crisis happening, and now we have the electricity crisis. The only thing you can hear in Gaza now is the sound of electric generators, and you can smell the polluted air.” Then he wondered: “Can we really live in Gaza like this? As if the electricity crisis is forced upon us with no solution so we just have to deal with it. Both the governments in Ramallah and Gaza do not feel what we’re feeling, so are we supposed to sort this out on our own? What are they waiting for?” He added: “The sea is our only hope of escape; it’s the only place where we don’t hear the generators and where we can breathe fresh air that we can’t find in our homes.” Another citizen called Basel Ibrahim from the Khan Younis Camp in the West Gaza Strip said: “A few days ago the situation got so much worse that we just couldn’t take it anymore.  Even though we got used to the compulsory 8-hour electricity cuts every day things have now changed and there isn’t a set schedule for the cuts like before.  Everything is getting worse, people are suffering. Electricity reaches homes for about 10-15 minutes every 10 hours then cuts off again, which causes a lot of our electrics to break.”  He added, angrily: “I don’t know where and who the electricity goes to! We’ve been hearing about this crisis for years.  We hear that everything is fixed, and then all of a sudden we are surprised once again that the crisis is still there. We just live in a non-stop roller coaster in constant depression, suffering and not knowing when it will ever end.” He also said: “What’s even stranger is that even water has stopped reaching our homes because of the lack of electricity. If water reaches an area, then the electricity goes, and vice versa - you cannot have both at the same time; our lives have become an unbearable hell.” As for university student Jaber Abu Marsa he stated: “The constant electricity cuts affect our emotional state, as we just don’t know when we will have electricity which forces us to change our study times and when we sleep and rest; we are essentially in a state of emergency.” He added: “Isn’t it enough that we live in a state of anxiety about the future and exam results? We do use generators, but imagine living somewhere where everyone is using generators; it’s extremely noisy and chaotic and produces a horrible smell.” He called upon Gaza authorities to fix this problem, which is threatening the lives of citizens and their futures. Another citizen called Abu Akram pointed out that the crisis does not only stop at the electricity problem, indicating that there’s a huge lack in the water supply, as they have not had water in their homes for over six days now, not even for one hour. He also said that he buys water every single day as it is in serious demand in the summer, especially with the high temperatures. As for the Energy and Natural Resources Authorities, they said that the percentage of the electricity shortage in Gaza has reached up to 50% which has prevented them and the service-sector companies from providing their services.   The electricity company advised citizens about the steps that they should take to deal with the electricity crisis in the summer. In a statement released by them, and received by ArabsToday, they instructed citizens to ration their use of electrics as much as possible. They have also warned people against using illegal methods to obtain electricity, and to report any cases of anyone doing so, or trying to turn on the electricity outside of the hours scheduled by the company. They also called on all citizens to pay off any outstanding bills, especially those who can afford to. The head of the Energy and Natural Resources Authorities in Gaza, Kanaan Obaid, previously confirmed that he would be using a third electric generator in the power plant, pointing out that the process will bring ease to citizens in the summer. Obaid said: “We will turn on the third generator, and use it according to the scheduled usage of the plant, seeing as there is no revenue for the company.”