off the coast of Gaza
Israel wants to develop gas field with Palestinians
06/18/2023, 8:35 p.m
Around 30 kilometers off the coast of the Gaza Strip, tens of billions of cubic meters of gas lie dormant in the rock. Israel wants to develop the deposit together with Palestinians. This is also intended to boost the Palestinian economy. There are few forgiving tones coming from Gaza itself.
Israel, together with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, wants to develop a gas field off the coast of the Gaza Strip, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The aim is to develop the Palestinian economy and stabilize security in the region. Implementation is subject to cooperation with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Israel pays attention to the protection of its interests.
The state Egyptian company Egas is supposed to develop the gas field around 30 kilometers off the coast, the government wrote “Jerusalem Post”. The gas reserves are estimated to be around 28.3 billion cubic meters. This exceeds the demand in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories in the West Bank, so gas can also be exported.
A spokesman for the ruling Hamas in the Gaza Strip said that the gas wells belong to the Palestinian people, primarily the residents of Gaza. They have “a full right to benefit from natural resources”. Israel will not be allowed to “abuse the gas deposits for extortion purposes”.
The Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 and violently took over sole control of the Gaza Strip a year later. Since then there have been de facto two separate governments in Gaza and the West Bank and no new parliamentary or presidential elections. At that time, Israel tightened a blockade of the coastal area, which is supported by Egypt.