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EU stops funding fuel oil deliveries to Gaza Strip over Hamas electricity tax

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The European Commission has temporarily suspended the financing of fuel oil deliveries to the Gaza Strip over plans by Hamas to impose an electricity tax in the territory, a commission spokesman said Monday.
BRUSSELS, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - The European Commission has temporarily suspended the financing of fuel oil deliveries to the Gaza Strip over plans by Hamas to impose an electricity tax in the territory, a commission spokesman said Monday.

"We've also been given to understand that Hamas plans to introduce taxes on electricity bills in the Gaza strip, [and] this would not allow us to continue paying for fuel," Antonia Mochan said.

She said the tax was incompatible with continued EU financing of fuel for the area's only power plant, which has been idle since Sunday as a result of the boycott, leading to widespread blackouts in the area.

Mochan said the EU would be prepared to resume financing if offered guarantees that Hamas would not levy the tax. The EU ordinarily pays the Israeli company Dor Alon directly, which then delivers the fuel.

She said that the EU paid for 25-30% of the energy bill for the Gaza Strip, amounting to some 6.5 million euros a month.

Reacting to the power cuts, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Hamas was solely responsible for the power shortage. It said the EU stopped making payments because the militant Islamic group had seized the local electricity company and had begun collecting revenues on power supplies.

Hamas recently took over the Gaza Strip after fierce street fighting with supporters of the ruling Fatah party, splitting the Palestinian Authority in two and leading to a reorganized government in the West Bank.

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