VZCZCXRO9156
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #0122/01 0231555
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 231555Z JAN 08
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0324
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 2252
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000122 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR 
GOLDBERGER/SHAMPAINE/BELGRADE; PRM FOR PRM/ANE; NSC FOR 
ABRAMS/PASCUAL; TREASURY FOR SZUBIN/LOEFFLER/NUGENT/HIRSON; 
BRUSSELS FOR LERNER; PLEASE PASS TO USAID FOR 
KUNDER/MCCLOUD/BORODIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON KPAL KWBG PGOV PHUM
SUBJECT: GAZA: LIMITED DELIVERIES CONTINUE; HUMANITARIAN 
PROBLEMS REMAIN; RAFAH CROSSING BREACHED 
 
REF: JERUSALEM 111 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Limited truckloads of aid passed through 
Kerem Shalom crossing on January 23.  The Gaza Power Plant 
received 200,000 liters of fuel oil on January 23, allowing 
the Plant to generate electricity until January 26.  Despite 
the resumption of electricity, Gaza hospitals report 
continuing problems and municipal authorities note water and 
sanitation concerns due to the problems with pumps. 
Explosives were used to break open barriers at the Gaza-Egypt 
border, and thousands of Gazans rushed into Egypt.  End 
summary. 
 
Limited Shipments of Fuel and Food 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Director of the Palestinian Petroleum Corporation 
in Gaza Mujahid Salama told Econoff that 200,000 liters of 
industrial fuel were received and delivered to the Gaza Power 
Plant on January 23.  Mujahid said that the Israel fuel 
company Dor had received orders that day from the Israeli 
Ministry of Defense to limit the industrial fuel transfer to 
200,000 liters - enough for the Plant to generate power for 
12-24 hours.  Salama said that 250 tons of cooking gas were 
received and delivered on January 23, but that no amounts of 
diesel or gasoline were received.  He added that the 250,000 
liters of diesel fuel transferred into Gaza at Nahal Oz on 
January 22 remains in storage on the Gaza side of the 
transfer station, as the Petroleum and Gas Station Owners 
Association in Gaza refused to distribute the shipment 
because the fuel was for the "exclusive use of UNRWA and PA 
hospitals - not the Gaza public" (see ref). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Gaza Power Plant Project Manager Rafiq Maliha told 
Econoff on January 23 that the 200,000 liters of industrial 
fuel shipped on that day will extend the Plant's output to 
January 26, as the plant continues to produce 65 MW of 
electricity.  Maliha stressed that the shut-down of the 
Plant's turbines is very costly and time consuming, as "lots 
of fuel" and at least eight hours is needed to bring the 
Plant's power production from "cold zero" to 65 MW. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) WFP Deputy Country Director Jacques Higgins told 
Econoff that six WFP truckloads of aid passed through Kerem 
Shalom crossing on January 23.  He noted that one truckload 
of WHO aid also passed through on January 23. 
 
Mounting Deficiencies In Health Care Services 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Gaza-based WHO National Health Officer Mahmoud 
Daher told Econoff on January 23 that Gaza's health care 
sector has become much less effective in treating Gaza's sick 
in recent days, as fuel and electricity are running very low. 
 He noted the continued need for spare parts for health care 
equipment; shortages of pharmaceutical drugs and disposables; 
and the general deterioration of infrastructure, such as 
elevators, heaters, cooling systems, plumbing systems, and 
doors and windows.  Daher noted the Gaza's neonatal care 
rooms have lost power in recent days, spurring the hospitals 
to develop contingency plans for newborns to be transported 
to areas with power inside or outside of Gaza. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Daher confirmed that electricity flow is back in 
hospitals.  However, he stressed that under conditions of 
such uncertainty, effective health sector planning and 
organization has been most difficult. 
 
Municipal Water and Sewage Pumps Down 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) 
engineer Monther Shoblak told Econoff on January 23 that 15 
of Gaza's 35 sewage pumps are not operating due to a lack of 
fuel (an additional three are not operating due to a lack of 
parts).  Shoblack reported that 73 of Gaza's 138 water pumps 
are not operating due to a lack of fuel.  He noted that 
roughly 90 percent of all CMWU water and sewage pumps are 
driven by diesel fuel-powered generators, with the remaining 
powered by electricity from the Gaza Power Plant and/or the 
Israel Electricity Company (IEC).  Shoblak estimated that, as 
 
JERUSALEM 00000122  002 OF 002 
 
 
of the afternoon hours of January 23 (local), 30 percent of 
the Gaza population does not have running water in their 
homes due to the lack of diesel fuel to power pumps. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Shoblak said that he was forced to discharge into 
the sea 45,000 cubic meters of sewage on January 22, as he 
did not have enough fuel to pump all the sewage to wastewater 
treatment plants.  "I had to choose between sewage floods in 
downtown Gaza or a sewage discharge into the sea," he 
concluded.  He expected that several more sewage pumps would 
run out of fuel in the later hours of January 23. 
 
Border Breached At Rafah 
------------------------ 
 
¶9.  (SBU) UN and security contacts report that &many 
thousands8 of Palestinians crossed into Sinai starting early 
January 23, when militants, with the permission of Hamas 
border guards, blasted holes in the metal wall and concrete 
blocks on the Gazan side of the Philadelphi Corridor and then 
used heavy construction loaders to move debris and allow 
large-scale foot traffic in and out of the Gaza Strip. 
Contacts report that there were no effective border controls 
as of 1500 local, and huge streams of Palestinians from Gaza 
City and northern Gaza clogged the highway to Rafah, 
desperate to obtain food and fuel from Egypt before border 
controls are restored. 
 
WALLES