People in the Gaza Strip continue to suffer from a serious power crisis.
Power supplies are now limited to four hours, followed by twelve hours of cuts.
The renewed crisis comes during cold weather and rainstorms.
Residents of the hundreds of high building in Gaza are facing difficulty; especially the elderly, the sick and the disabled among them.
This crisis, which is doubled by the lack of fuel in the market, has deepened the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
According to Al Mezan's documentation, since 2010, 26 people have died for reasons related to electricity cuts, including 21 children.
At approximately 6:00 pm on Saturday 3 January 2015, Amr and Khalid Mohammed Al Habeel (3 and 4 respectively) died when fire ignited in their bedroom in their house that is located in Al Shati (Beach) refugee camp, west of Gaza City.
Their father Mohammed Al Habeel, 45, was injured in the incident and was admitted to Shifa hospital.
Their mother is suffering a trauma.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, the children's mother lit a candle near the door of their room because electricity was cut off.
The room's contents were accidentally ignited and the room consumed in flames.
The parents tried to rescue their children but the mother was suffocated due to inhaling smoke.
Power supply in Gaza is a paid service.
The Palestinian government deducts fixed amounts from its employees, salaries to cover their electricity bill.
It also prevents people from having electricity when they do not pay their bills.
This raises serious questions about the reasons behind the inability to pay the bill of industrial fuel and electricity imported from Israel to the Gaza Strip.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its deep sorrow over the death of the two children due to electricity cuts.
Al Mezan condemns the continuous electricity cuts and emphasizes that the reason behind the electricity crisis is the absence of Palestinian political agreement regardless the existence of the Palestinian unity government.
Al Mezan holds the government and the concerned authorities; Palestinian Energy Authority and Gaza Electricity Distribution Company, responsible for the crisis.
Al Mezan calls on the Palestinian government to open serious investigation into the continuous electricity cuts crisis, particularly after the Israeli destruction of residential areas and industrial and commercial institutions which are no longer use electricity in the past few months, which should make more power available for distribution.
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