JERUSALEM, February 14, 2017 (WAFA) – Blackouts in Ramallah on Tuesday were a result of cuts in power supply by the Israeli Electricity Company (IEC), according to the Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO), which supplies power to East Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho.

It said in a statement that IEC reduced the amount of current needed to keep a steady flow of electricity to Ramallah causing total blackouts in some areas for several hours.

According to the assistant company manager for technical affairs, Mansour Nassar, the cut in supply comes on top of IEC’s refusal to increase amount of supply to JDECO to allow it to meet rise in demand in its service areas.

IEC says JDECO, a private Palestinian shareholding company based in occupied East Jerusalem, owes it millions of dollars for current bought from the Israeli company and therefore has decided to cut supply until the debt issue is resolved.

Ramallah, which is the base of the Palestinian government and Palestine‘s economic hub, is the most affected by the Israeli cut in power supply.

M.K.