For Gaza’s 1.8 million residents, shortages and power blackouts are part of daily life.
Run by Islamist group Hamas, the impoverished enclave lacks much basic infrastructure and lives under a blockade from Israel and Egypt, meaning that its residents can find themselves getting by with meagre sources of light at night. Reuters photographers documented life after dark in the embattled territory.
. KHAN YOUNIS, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
On March 15, fuel shortages led the Gaza Strip's sole power station to stop generating electricity for a couple days, extending blackouts from eight hours a day to 12.
It was not the first time. A few months previously the plant was switched off for 43 days because of a scarcity of fuel that arose after neighbouring Egypt closed off smuggling tunnels. Israel eventually allowed in fuel paid for by Qatar when a storm swept the region.
. GAZA, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Gaza's rickety infrastructure system has been badly degraded by years of conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Although it receives electricity directly from Israel and Egypt, in addition to its own plant, its supply is precarious at the best of times.
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Slideshow
. GAZA, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Hamas militants march in the semi-darkness during a training exercise in Gaza.
. GAZA, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Children sit in the back of a car during a power cut in the northern Gaza Strip.
. GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A man warms himself by a fire inside his house at the Shati refugee camp.
. GAZA, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A family sits around a fire outside their house during a power cut in the northern Gaza Strip.
. GAZA, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian girl lights a candle inside her home in Jabalya.
. GAZA, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Members of a family warm themselves around a fire during a power outage.
. KHAN YOUNIS, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A woman does the washing up in her kitchen during a power cut in Khan Younis.
. GAZA, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian man lights a fire at his makeshift shelter.
. GAZA, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian boys play around a fire on a street during a power cut in the northern Gaza Strip.
. GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
Palestinian children light candles during a protest against power cuts and the blockade on Gaza.
. GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian vendor sells corn on a beach by the glow of an electric light.