The European Commission has said that following a meeting with Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of Palestine, it has decided to resume deliveries of fuel to the Gaza power plant on a provisional basis and that, in the longer-term, it will carry out an audit to ensure that fuel aid in Gaza remains properly managed.
The commission said that the Palestinian authorities were supporting its plans to resume the support for the delivery of fuel to the Gaza power plant and added that both parties are willing to carry out immediately the necessary joint commission/Palestinian authority audits to ensure that fuel aid is properly supervised.
The European Commission (EC) has been paying a subsidy of some $9 million each month so that fuel can be supplied to Gaza’s only power station via a private Israeli company. However, the body halted this subsidy over fears that the de facto Hamas leadership was planning to divert part of the revenues deriving from the production of electricity in Gaza.
In a press release, the EC said: The commission has always done its utmost to provide emergency assistance to the population in Gaza and has always acted to ensure that this assistance reaches the people it is addressed to, the Palestinians in need.
The commission concluded that it will be looking carefully with the Palestinian authorities into the audit results, and will proceed according to the findings.