Gaza's sole power plant shut down on Saturday after running out of fuel, five days after Israel closed its goods crossing with the Palestinian enclave.
"The power plant in Gaza has stopped [working] due to the fuel shortage," said Mohammed Thabet, an electricity company spokesman.
The electricity supply is expected to plummet to only four hours a day, Mr Thabet said.
Diesel for the power plant is usually transported by lorries from Egypt or Israel, which has maintained a blockade of the enclave since the militant group Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.
The power plant shutdown comes a day after Israel launched extensive strikes on Gaza that it said were targeted at the Islamic Jihad militant group. A commander of the group was among at least 12 people killed in the attacks, which also claimed the lives of civilians.
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Smoke rises over Gaza City on a second day of Israeli air strikes. Reuters -

Rockets are fired by Palestinian militants into Israel. Reuters -

An Israeli military AH-64 Apache helicopter fires flares over the city of Ashkelon in southern Israel. AFP -

An Israeli soldier from a mobile artillery unit loads a shell at the Israeli-Gaza border. AP -

A woman walks through a Gaza neighbourhood where Tayseer Al Jabari, a senior commander of Islamic Jihad militant group, was killed by Israeli strikes. Reuters -

A Palestinian man inspects the ruins of a house in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters -

A Palestinian looks out at the remains of a house in Gaza City hit by an Israeli air strike. Reuters -

Palestinians inspect the remains of a house hit by an Israeli air strike. Reuters -

Rockets are fired by fighters from Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in the east of Gaza City. EPA
Gaza's 2.3 million residents experience regular power shortages and last week received an average of only 10 hours of electricity a day, according to data from the UN's humanitarian agency Ocha.
Earlier on Saturday, the electricity company said a shutdown would "affect all public utilities and crucial installations and exacerbate the humanitarian situation".
The company called on "all parties to urgently intervene and allow the entrance of fuel deliveries for the power plant to work."
Gaza's Health Ministry warned that vital services could be suspended within 72 hours because of the power plant shutdown.
Israel's closure of its crossings with Gaza came as the military braced for reprisals following the arrest of two senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in the occupied West Bank.
On Friday, Israel launched air strikes against Gaza that killed Islamic Jihad commander Tayseer Al Jabari, prompting the group to launch dozens of rockets towards Israel.
The exchange of fire, which continued on Saturday, has raised fears of another full-blown war between Israel and militants groups in Gaza.
With reporting from agencies.
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Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
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Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
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Tomorrow 2021
Tomorrow 2021
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Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
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- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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Director: John Madden
Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
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Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
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Left Bank: Art, Passion and Rebirth of Paris 1940-1950
Agnes Poirer, Bloomsbury
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Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
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Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
On Women's Day
Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action
Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?
Samar Elmnhrawy: How companies in the Middle East can catch up on gender equality
Justin Thomas: Challenge the notion that 'men are from Mars, women are from Venus'
On Women's Day
Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action
Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?
Samar Elmnhrawy: How companies in the Middle East can catch up on gender equality
The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?
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National Editorial: The US-Taliban peace deal is only the first step to peace
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Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.

