Gaza City was dark early Monday after the Hamas government shut down the Palestinian power plant that supplies some of the electricity in the Strip. Hamas spokesmen blamed Israel for the power shortage following the closure of the border crossings through which fuel for the power plant is brought into Gaza.

Four hours after the blackout started, Hamas said that five patients died because of the cutoff of electricity in hospitals.

Meanwhile, Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal appealed to Arab leaders and his rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, asking them to forget their differences and help the beleaguered Gazans. "All Arab leaders, exercise real pressure to stop this Zionist crime ... take up your role and responsibility," he told Al-Jazeera satellite TV in a live interview from Syria. "We are not asking you to wage a military war against Israel ... but just stand with us in pride and honor."

Mashaal said he had been in contact Sunday with some Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia to see if they would pressure Israel.

Also in the Strip, Israeli missile strikes killed at least two Palestinians and critically wounded two others in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, local medical workers and Hamas officials said. Hamas said the targets of the Israeli strikes were activists who were involved in firing makeshift rockets into southern Israel.

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)