Tax breaks to overcome Gaza electricity crisis

The Gaza Strip will be exempt from paying fuel tax this summer, marking a temporary resolution to ongoing tax disputes that have deepened an electricity crisis in the besieged enclave, officials announced yesterday.

Palestinian official Jamil Mizhir told Ma’an that several meetings were held with Palestinian Minister of Labour Mamoun Abu Shahla before the Palestinian leadership decided that Gaza would receive exemptions of between 80 to 100 per cent off the fuel tax starting 1 May until the end of the summer.

Mizhir said the exemption was not a permanent solution but would guarantee Gaza eight hours of electricity per day.

The Gaza Strip has been left almost entirely without power for a number of days over the past month due to maintenance work on power lines from both Israel and Egypt as well as the ongoing tax disputes on fuel for the enclave’s near-defunct power station.

The dispute falls between Gaza’s electricity company and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance.