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Gaza: Gaza's main power plant began shutting down on Sunday due to a fuel shortage caused by Israel's closure of borders in response to Palestinian rocket attacks.
"There is no fuel coming in and we have no reserves," said Kanaan Abeid, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority in the Gaza Strip.
Abeid estimated that as many as one million people would be affected by the full shutdown.
UN officials also warned of the impact on daily life in the impoverished Gaza Strip.
"It (the power plant shutdown) is going to have a significant impact on the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza," said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, whose aid shipments have been turned back.
Critics say the fuel reductions amount to illegal "collective punishment" against largely aid-dependent Gaza.
In recent months the Gaza Strip has been plagued with power outages since Israel began limiting its fuel supplies to pressure Hamas into preventing rocket attacks into Israel.
European Union Officials reported that the Gaza plant was now operating at approximately half of its capacity. No more fuel was allowed in on Sunday.
"After two months of reductions, they're very low on fuel. It's only a question of hours," said a senior EU official involved in the fuel programme.
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