Hi,
I would like some feedback on this characterization that is often cited in the media. One aspect, fuel, water and electricity. Does Hamas pay to obtain that from Israel, and how much have they invested in generating their own electricity, fuel (possible?) and water. Russia sends natural gas (used to, diminishing) to certain European countries, does that mean they have control over it, probably a bad analogy?
I just got this information from the internet. So, you could do that for yourself, rather than asking here. Perhaps you know the answers and had some other pupose in asking here. I found the answers quite interesting. California is also beside an ocean, but they are unable to have a desalinization plant because there are so many reactionary environmentalists there who don’t want anyone changing nature.
From CSIS, on supply of electricity in Gaza:
Quote
Prior to the outbreak of war on October 7, Israel directly or indirectly supplied most of Gaza’s electricity. About half came through 10 Israeli power lines, supplying 120 megawatts (MW). While Israel charges the Palestinian Authority ¶ for this, the PA often has refused to pay, and Israel periodically has erased the debt. Gaza also had a single diesel power plant that generated an additional 65–75 MW, with fuel purchased from Israel and financed by Qatar.
The arrangement did not always work smoothly. In recent years, Israel blocked deliveries of fuel for Gaza’s power plant in August 2020, May 2021, and August 2022. Israeli strikes during past escalations also damaged electricity infrastructure, and Hamas was slow to repair it. Even in normal times, electricity demand far exceeded supply, and most Gazans reportedly only received power from the grid for six to eight hours per day.
Because of persistent shortages, Gazans innovated with different methods of electricity generation and distribution. These informal private systems provided the remaining 25 percent of electricity supply. A recent internal survey by an international humanitarian organization identified 23 different technical setups of power systems that operate beyond the grid (either entirely off-grid or hybrid). These systems include small generators and solar systems. Because Gaza has 320 sunny days a year and many buildings have flat roofs, it has ideal conditions for rooftop solar panels. The Israeli government sporadically restricted their importation, but even so, solar uptake increased dramatically.
At the household level, Gazans who could afford solar panels rapidly purchased them. The number of solar installations in Gaza grew exponentially from 12 in 2012 to 8,760 in 2019, according to a 2021 study. CSIS analysis of satellite imagery from May 2022 found at least 655 rooftop solar systems in a one square mile sample area of Gaza city, likely representing the highest density of rooftop solar panels in the world. Estimating the total number of rooftop solar systems in the Gaza Strip today is challenging, but preliminary analysis indicates that there are likely now more than 12,400 rooftop solar systems in the Gaza Strip. Land use classification conducted by He Yin at Kent State University shows that in 2023, the Gaza Strip has an area of 140 square miles, of which 38 square miles is developed. Even if the sample area studied had twice the number of rooftop solar systems as the average for developed land in the Gaza Strip, we would expect there to be a total of roughly 12,445 systems. An electrical engineer for a solar panel business in Gaza corroborated the high deployment of solar power in Gaza, estimating that at least a third of Gaza’s population and more than 50 percent of its businesses used solar panels in March 2023.
I imagine in the future, one will have on the body optical scanners and audio receivers and microphones such that answers to questions like these will be immediately read off an internet search by the microphone. It’s going to be a setback to ordinary conversation I expect. We’ll probably start confining our questions to personal ones or personal history ones. “What kind of pickles did you make this year?” “Could you come over and play?” “When did Grandpa switch from mules to tractor?”