The United Nations is accusing Israel of collectively punishing the Palestinian population in Gaza by cutting off fuel supplies as part of a blockade of the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, Gaza’s only power plant was forced to shut down. John Ging, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza said hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were living in darkness this week.

John Ging: “We have run out of terms to describe the despair and the destitution of the ordinary civilian population over here. But the darkness of the Gaza city tonight is clear evidence, if evidence, more evidence were needed, of just how desperate the situation has become here now.”

Israel partially lifted the blockade earlier today and delivered 700,000 liters of fuel to Gaza. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports Israel is trying to thwart an effort by Arab states to win UN Security Council condemnation of the sanctions imposed on the Gaza Strip.