In Gaza, the Israeli-led siege is the mother of invention.Mahmoud Shahin, a 59-year-old chemistry teacher from Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, is using solar panels to generate electricity for his house after over a week of rolling blackouts.
Gaza's sole power plant shut down on 13 November after Israel blocked deliveries of European-funded industrial grade fuel. Officials say that 70% of the Strip's 1.5 million residents are without electricity.
Israel has imposed near-total closure on Gaza since 4 November, turning away deliveries of food, fuel, and medicine.
Shahin purchased the solar panels eight years ago from a Palestinian merchant who imported them from Israel. This week he obtained electrical conductors, and succeeded in generating electricity for his house.
Shahin says dreams of lighting all the hospitals in Gaza with solar power. The power cuts have affected the most basic functions of hospitals. Gaza's major hospitals use generators during the blackouts, but the total closure means that fuel and spare parts are scarce.
The main generator at the European Hospital in Khan Younis has already shut down, as has the backup generator at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the Strip's largest medical center. The electrical cuts mean that lives hang in the balance, such as at the neonatal care unit of Ash-Shifa hospital, which treats prematurely born babies.
Shahin said solar power "is not a new idea." He said he hasn't invented anything, but rather implemented a modern technology that is already available.
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