Some Palestinian children lighting their candles in Gaza city showing electricity cuts trouble their daily lives (picture taken by Al Mokhtar).
The Light Of The Candles Is Not Enough
This time, candles will not be fun. Kids won’t be racing to put their light off as it is known in Christmas concerts or birthday parties.
Candles will remain present throughout the night in Gaza’s houses “or” missing out their electricity by the Israeli total closure of the sector and the continuous electricity cuts.
The crisis continues
A mother said: “The first semester in the school began a few days ago and she wanted to prepare her lessons and review and found candles are not enough to overcome the electricity cuts in Gaza especially at night”.
The mother spread her sorrow and suffering, saying: “when the second semester started we brought large quantities of candles… believing that the shortage of electricity in Gaza seems will not end.”
This scene was and still is repeated in many homes in Gaza, which light up candles in order to enable their children to study.
Looking for candles in one of the shops became the number one activity, and candles became the most important thing to buy. One of the Palestinian mothers says “Everybody is looking for it to be number one” (···) “we buy them with pens and notebooks, as we are in need of stationery for our kids, we are in need for candles to enable them to study at night”.
Morad, a sixth grade primary school student, recognizes that candles are troubling him every night. He said “we want electricity power… we want to keep our eyes… the Israeli occupation must do the duty of providing Gaza with power”.
Omar is 13 years old, he is a student, we met him and he smiled with bitterness. He said “I am very tired of seeing the candles every night… I can’t concentrate in my book, I can’t study well”.
Gaza City has witnessed frequent power outages; the outage of power by the Israeli occupation, which is the main power feeder to the whole sector in the Gaza Strip.
In Gaza people didn’t hesitate as usual to face the Israeli occupation in order to stop the outage of the power in the Gaza Strip. Several citizens were organizing demonstrations every night in order to create an atmosphere of candles to show the world that their kids want to complete their educational journey without troubles and without electricity cuts.
Salwa is a student, she was angry and said “studying in the existence of candles is very tiring and upsets me always… we need to focus… we don’t need romance… what is going on is a real tragedy and the Israeli must stop this game.”
Marwa is in a public school which does not have electricity. She was in a break she shed tears and said: “How to study? The absence of electricity has interrupted my everyday life.”
Another said “this world thinks that the embargo, the siege and the electricity cuts are ended… but it’s really more painful and harsh… I do not know how to pass the coming days… how to pass the darkness and anxiety.”
Mohamed, a father of 5 children, said:” My children are different ages, including those in the secondary school… all of them do suffer and cry at night cause of the darkness”.
A University student, Alia, says: “it’s not impossible for me to use the candles… dozens of them beside me, ,and smiling sarcastically added: “Instead of the darkness we use candles for a little light.”
Her household duties are being performed on the light of candles and she said “is it worth for the poor to live the full details of the tragedy?”.
Kholoud, a superior student in eighth grade school, said “power cuts affect us negatively… I lose the ability to focus and, more importantly, we will be in a bad psychological condition in the absence of electricity and good light.”
Sammer (14 years) described the situation as “a catastrophe”, adding: “What is the light of the candles?!?!… it’s not Christmas, it’s not a birthday party, we are in the Gaza Strip, we are living the tragedy… electricity cuts departed the maximum power of our dreams.”
Dana is girl in the first grade of primary who says innocently: “…what shall I do with candles, shall I keep them for Christmas concerts or whattttt… I do not study at all… I can’t focus… I can’t do my homework at night.”
For many times the electricity distribution company in the Gaza Strip warned that the continuing absence of the main power (electricity) in the Gaza Strip is a very serious humanitarian disaster, and it is due to suspension of the main electric line feeder and the Israeli side that refuses to return the electricity back.
The company warned that the situation in Gaza is becoming increasingly serious and difficult, and appealed to organizations, agencies and international and humanitarian institutions to intervene rapidly to put pressure on the occupation and stop the continual electricity cuts in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza continues to suffer from a shortage of fuel from Israel, even if fuel is needed to operate the power station sector.
The EGPC (Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation) also pointed out that Israel continued to refuse to increase the quantity that must be entered into the sector, noting that Gaza has limited quantities of fuel, something which is inadequate.
Palestinians still appeal the Egyptian side to open a permanent and continuous line to supply fuel to Gaza in order to overcome the unjust Israeli decision and asked in a statement: “if Egypt provides Israel with gas, why should not we provide Palestine with it”.
3.071 Km 