EU moves to avoid indirect cash to Hamas
The EU is standing by its decision to block the financing of fuel for a Gaza power plant following reported plans by Hamas to take revenues from the electricity produced there.
The European Commission on Sunday (19 August) stopped payments to the Israeli company Dor Alon Energy which supplies fuel to the plant.
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The plant produces 25 percent of the electricity in Gaza and supplies some 600,000 Palestinians.
The Dor Alon company subsequently refused to send out fuel to the plant which left tens of thousands Palestinians without power.
Unlike in other parts of the Palestinian territories controlled by the new government appointed by the president Mahmoud Abbas, the Gaza strip is controlled exclusively by Hamas, the radical group included on the EU and US terrorist lists.
The division followed a violent clash in June between supporters of Hamas and the moderate Fatah movement of president Abbas.
While international donors provide financial aid directly to the Palestinian government backed by the West, they make use of a temporary mechanism by-passing Hamas to support people in Gaza by sending cash for basic public services.
But the plan by Hamas to "divert part of the revenues deriving from the production of electricity in Gaza" sparked concerns in Brussels that the financial aid would end up in the hands of the Islamist movement.
"We are extremely concerned about this and are carefully verifying the situation," a commission spokeswoman told journalists on Monday (20 August).
"We are ready to resume our support to the Gaza Power Plan within hours once we receive the appropriate assurances that all the funds will be exclusively used for the benefit of the Gaza population," she added.
The EU spends €6.5 million a month to send fuel to the Gaza power plant. So far this year, the bloc has provided over €400 million in support to the Palestinians.