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Gaza City Blast Kills 1, Injures 10, Shakes Crowded Area

FILE: A Palestinian sells socks on a stall near the rubble of his old store that has been destroyed in an Israeli air strike, ahead of Eid Al-Adha holiday, in Gaza City, on July 14, 2021. FILE/Reuters
FILE: A Palestinian sells socks on a stall near the rubble of his old store that has been destroyed in an Israeli air strike, ahead of Eid Al-Adha holiday, in Gaza City, on July 14, 2021. FILE/Reuters
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Gaza City Blast Kills 1, Injures 10, Shakes Crowded Area

FILE: A Palestinian sells socks on a stall near the rubble of his old store that has been destroyed in an Israeli air strike, ahead of Eid Al-Adha holiday, in Gaza City, on July 14, 2021. FILE/Reuters
FILE: A Palestinian sells socks on a stall near the rubble of his old store that has been destroyed in an Israeli air strike, ahead of Eid Al-Adha holiday, in Gaza City, on July 14, 2021. FILE/Reuters

One person was killed and 10 injured Thursday when an explosion tore through a house in a popular market, the interior ministry said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

The blast in the Al-Zawiya area collapsed large parts of the house and damaged dozens of buildings and shops nearby, according to the statement.

Police explosives engineering teams continue to investigate the causes of the explosion. Civil defense teams and the police were able to control the resulting fire.

The blast shook the neighborhood on the third day of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday.

The Israeli army signaled it wasn’t involved, calling the crisis an “internal” matter in Gaza, The Associated Press reported.

Gaza City already was struggling with heavy damage it sustained from an 11-day war in May between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers. At least 254 people were killed in Gaza during the conflict, including 67 children and 39 women, according to the Gaza health ministry. Hamas has acknowledged the deaths of 80 militants. Twelve civilians, including two children, were killed in Israel, along with one soldier.

The World Bank earlier this month said rebuilding Gaza would cost $485 million, including up to $380 million to repair the physical damage alone.

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Arab World

Egypt Needs to Import $1.18 Billion in Fuel to End Power Cuts, PM Says

The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Egypt Needs to Import $1.18 Billion in Fuel to End Power Cuts, PM Says

The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)

Egypt needs to import around $1.18 billion worth of mazut fuel oil and natural gas to end persistent power cuts exacerbated by consecutive heat waves, its Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in a televised address on Tuesday.

It hopes the shipments will arrive in full around the third week of July, by which point the government aims to stop cutting power during the remaining summer months, he added.

It has already started contracting for 300,000 tons of mazut worth $180 million to boost its strategic reserves which are expected to arrive early next week.

Egypt's government on Monday extended daily power cuts to three hours from two hours previously in response to a surge in domestic electricity consumption during the latest heat wave.

These three-hour cuts will continue until the end of June, before returning to two hours in the first half of July with the aim of stopping completely for the rest of the summer, Madbouly said on Tuesday.

Egyptian social media has lit up with complaints about the impact of the blackouts, with some saying they have been forced to purchase private power generators.

The problem has particularly affected teenagers preparing for the crucial high school certificate, with some posting about students studying by candlelight and others in coffee shops.

A wedding hall owner in the coastal city of Port Said said he would turn one of his ballrooms into a study hall.

Since July last year, load shedding linked to falling gas production, rising demand and a shortage of foreign currency has led to scheduled two-hour daily power cuts in most areas.

"We had said that we planned to end load shedding by the end of 2024... we do not have a power generation problem or a network problem, we are unable to provide fuel," Madbouly said on Tuesday.

"With the increase in consumption related to the major development and population increase, there has been a lot of pressure on our dollar resources," he added.

He said production in a neighboring country's gas field had come to a full halt for 12 hours leading to an interruption in the supply, without naming the country or the gas field.

Egypt's Abu Qir Fertilizers said on Tuesday three of its plants had halted production because their supply of natural gas was cut.