People living in the Gaza Strip held a candlelight march Sunday evening to protest the closure of their main power plant Sunday, due to a fuel shortage.

One of two turbines producing electricity stopped working in the morning, and another stopped later in the day, the Palestinian Energy Authority said.

Palestinians in Gaza City attend a candlelight march against fuel cuts that also led to power cuts on Sunday.
(Hatem Moussa/Associated Press)

Diesel fuel that powers the plant is not entering Gaza because Israel closed border crossings of the Hamas-control territory on Friday. The plant has nearly no stored reserves, said Rafik Maliha, director of the facility.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak halted shipments to Gaza after Hamas renewed rocket attacks against the town of Sderot in southern Israel last week.

About a third of Gaza's 1.5 million residents were expected to be affected by the shutdown. Hours after the blackout, Hamas said five patients died because of the cutoff of electricity in hospitals but it couldn't be confirmed independently.

Earlier Sunday, people packed into stores to buy food and batteries in anticipation of dark, cold days ahead.

Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for Israel's defence ministry, said Gaza has enough fuel and accused Palestinian officials of trying to create the impression of a crisis that did not exist.

In addition to the fuel it receives from Israel to power its electrical plant, Gaza gets about two-thirds of its electricity directly from Israel. Israeli officials said that supply would not be affected.

Israel, with Egypt's co-operation, has blockaded Gaza and allowed only basic food items and humanitarian supplies to enter since June, when the militants of Hamas seized power there.

Under Hamas rule, militants have been free to fire near-daily rocket barrages at Israeli towns around Gaza.

Palestinian militants say they are continuing their rocket fire in retaliation for intensified Israeli raids.

Late Sunday, Israel carried out two air strikes in Gaza City, Palestinian security officials said. The Israeli military confirmed both attacks in which a militant linked to Islamic Jihad was killed.

With files from the Associated Press