Gaza's power shortage worse than expected

From Haaretz.

Gaza City was dark Sunday night after the Hamas government shut down the Palestinian power plant that supplies some of the electricity in the Strip. Hamas spokesmen blamed Israel for the power shortage following the closure of the border crossings through which fuel for the power plant is brought into Gaza, but Israel said it is providing 75 percent of Gaza's electricity and Egypt is providing another 5 percent. Nonetheless, security officials said Sunday night that the electrical supply difficulties in Gaza were greater than Israel had previously thought. They said the fuel supply to Gaza was tens of percent less than planned, a problem exacerbated by the closure.

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Ok. Let's calculate this out. Israel supplies 75% and Egypt supplies 5% for a total of 80% of the power needs of Gaza. Due to closures of the Gaza crossing, fuel supplies were 10% less or 70%. Given 24 hours in a day, then Gazans should be without power for 7.2 hours assuming constant usage. Spike usage (i.e. more power used during the day when people are awake) would possibly increase this time.

However, when power was disrupted,

Four hours after the blackout, Hamas said that five patients died because of the cutoff of electricity in hospitals.

Two factors make me suspect this fact.

1. If Hamas knew they were running out of fuel in their main plant, why did they not cut power to certain parts of Gaza to be certain that emergency services would still have fuel?

2. I thought all hospitals had back up generators. Could not Hamas ensured fuel to hospitals to prevent the loss of life?

Hamas failed to do the two critical things that every responsible government does to ensure the safety of its people.

This brings forth the following conclusions.

1. Hamas is not a responsible government.

2. Hamas is not concerned about the safety of its people.

3. Hamas is a bunch of idiots.

4. Hamas is using the decrease in fuel shipments to further its political goals.

While I truly believe number one and two are correct, I certainly do not believe number three. If Hamas wanted to save the five people who died, it would have done so.

For Hamas, what is the death of five Palestinians if it can blame these deaths on Israel, even though it could have prevented them.

For Hamas it is political advantage. For Israel, it is a grave concern in which they are now questioning if their methods (note, this article is from Haaretz, an Israeli news outlet) leads to death. For a Christian, it is murder, a mortal sin.

Two groups of people are truly concerned about these five deaths, Jews and Christians. Hamas is only concerned about the political advantage. However, Khaled Mashaal is apparently concerned.

The plea was rare show of emotion for the hard-line Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, Syria. (emphasis added)

That's right, Khaled Mashaal lives in Sryia where he is not experiencing these power outages. This fact brings me to another point. Gaza was turned over to Palestinians. Hamas waged a coup and now controls all of Gaza. Why is Khaled Mashaal still in exile if his party is in complete control of Gaza? Could it be that Khaled Mashaal is happy where he is as opposed to living among his people he is helping to kill. I am sorry, I meant his people he is helping to liberate.

Things that make you go, "Hmmmm".