NABLUS, February 23, 2015 (WAFA) - Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), the main supplier of electrical power in Israel, cut off the electricity supply to the northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin due to accumulated debts on the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Head of Nablus municipality, Ghassan al-Shaka’a, said that IEC cut off the electricity supply to almost 50 communities in the districts of Jenin and Nablus for an hour as a warning to get the PA to pay off its debts.

“IEC announced last month that 'due to a mounting debt worth nearly 1.8 billion shekels ($459 million), we have decided that...electrical supply will be cut,' with the cut to include an hour each morning and another hour at night, until the PA starts to pay up,” reported Israeli media outlets.

It said that IEC will start limiting power supply to the PA until it pays up its debt.

Meanwhile, Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom said, “Israel should use the frozen PA tax money froze to pay off the PA’s enormous electric bill.”

Israel has been withholding the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA for the past two months, in retaliation to President Mahmoud Abbas’ accession to international treaties and organizations, including the international criminal court.

T.R./M.H.