Gaza City, September 14 (RHC)-- The Union of Gaza gas station owners have warned about the fuel shortage in the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory, saying petroleum supplies in the Gaza Strip are running increasingly low.

Mahmoud al-Shawwa, the union’s head, told Palestine’s Ma’an news agency that Gaza’s fuel shortage is blamed on a lack of gasoline coming into the coastal enclave through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

Although diesel fuel had entered the coastal sliver recently, it was all sent to Gaza Power Plant to keep the installation running, he added. Gaza Power Plant has been operating at about half of its capacity of 120 megawatts (MW) over the past few years as a result of fuel shortages due to the Israeli siege.

The plant, which was also damaged during Israel’s 50-day war in the summer of 2014, has been forced to shut down on several occasions.

Since 2007, the Tel Aviv regime maintains its land, air and sea blockade on more than 1.8 million people living in Gaza, denying them the most basic items like food, medicine and fuel.

This is while the Rafah border crossing, which is Gazans’ only way of access to the outside world free from Israel’s control, has been shut by Egypt, further complicating the humanitarian situation in the enclave.