Israel opens Kerem Shalom to help give Gazans electric power

From Ma'an:

The only power plant in the Gaza Strip is set to resume operations after a fuel delivery on Friday, Palestinian officials said.

The Kerem Shalom crossing will be opened as an exception to allow 40,000 liters of fuel to reach the power plant, the Palestinian Authority's director of border crossings Nathmi Mhannad told Ma'an.

Gaza's sole power plant was shut down Wednesday evening as funds from Qatari donations for fuel costs ran out. Cash-strapped Hamas pays the PA for fuel imported to besieged Gaza, and had been unable to cover the additional tax costs.

It is unclear on where the money for the fuel came from. The power plant was closed on Thursday for lack of fuel because the money from Qatar to cover expenses ran out.

Kerem Shalom is normally closed on Fridays. This week it was closed on Thursday for Purim.

Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza instantly showed their appreciation:

The Popular Resistance movement in Palestine praised Friday morning's car attack, which left four Israeli border police and one civilian injured in East Jerusalem.

"The attack comes as a response to Israeli crimes," Hassan al-Zaalan, an official at the Popular Resistance movement said following the incident.

The Hamas movement also remarked on the "heroic" car attack in East Jerusalem, describing the man's actions as a "natural response" to Israeli crimes.

Spokesperson of the movement, Fawzi Barhoum, added that the "extremist" Israeli government is responsible for the Jerusalem situation.

When AFP reported on the power plant closing, it showed some characteristic bias:

Gaza is blockaded and controlled by Israel on two of its crossings, and isolated by Egyptian closure of a third.

Israel's allowing food and fuel and construction material through its territory is "blockading and controlling." Egypt besiging Gaza is merely "isolating."