Palestinians battle blackouts in Gaza after the European Union decided to stop paying for fuel used by the main power plant supplying electricity to almost 25 per cent of the salient.

Fuel for the facility was being paid by the EU and supplied by an Israeli company, Dor Alon Energy who stopped delivering the fuel and forced the power plant to shut down its operations on Sunday.

“Because of the overall security situation, we have decided to take stock of all our mechanisms and systems. Pending the result of this assessment we hope to resume payments within the next 24, maximum 48 hours,” the European Commission motivated its decision through the voice of a spokeswoman.

Many regions had to deal with total blackouts for hours, while electricity continued to circulate from neighbouring Israel and Egypt in some parts of the strip.

Hamas was blamed for these outages by officials in Ramallah, who said Hamas took over the power plant and prompted the EU to undertake these drastic measures.

After representatives of the Abbas administration lashed out at Hamas, members of the Islamic movement retaliated and said Fatah officials thought this is a manner of increasing “pressure on Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” advising the EU to cut funding.

Transports of fuel couldn’t pass through the Nahal Oz Crossing, after Israeli troops closed it last Thursday due to “security concerns.” The action had immediate repercussions, fuel supplies reaching threshold levels on Friday in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military announced it will allow fuel to get through the crossing because this measure affects civilians, but the Israeli Dor Alon company said it has been informed that it will no longer receive funds for the fuel and deliveries will be ceased.

“If and when the European Union or another responsible body informs us that it will commit to pay for the fuels to the power station, the fuel supply will be renewed,” the company said in a statement.

Officials from the European Union were surprised by the fuel shortage, because according to their statistics the power plant should have reserves for several days. This fact was confirmed by an official from the power company, who also said reserves are needed to keep essential installations running and avoid at total collapse of the system.