Economics
Why Gaza Is on the Verge of Another Meltdown
A Palestinian woman uses a gas lamp during a power cut in the Gaza Strip.
Photographer: Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
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Israel and Hamas are again at the precipice of war just as Gaza's economic woes are being brought to a head by an unlikely player: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
After an Israeli operation inside the Palestinian coastal enclave went wrong on Sunday, Hamas launched rocket barrages on the Jewish state and Israeli jets struck inside the tiny territory. Long before that, though, Abbas was refusing to pay Gaza’s power bills, opposing diesel shipments from Qatar and slashing the salaries of 70,000 Gaza civil servants he is responsible for paying.