The Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip have transferred 2 million U.S. dollars to Egypt's energy department for fuel to restart the only power plant in the coastal enclave, a Hamas official said Wednesday.

The Hamas-run Energy Authority transferred the money to its Egyptian counterpart, asking the latter to transport diesel via the Rafah border crossing, said Ahmed Abu al-Amrin, data director at the Hamas-run Energy Authority.

Egypt has not yet started supplying Gaza with diesel, and Hamas is making intensive contacts with Egypt to start the delivery as soon as possible, according to Abu al-Amrin.

Over the past two years, Hamas bought diesel from smugglers in the nearby Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and taxed it before supplying the Gaza power station. As diesel is a subsidized item in Egypt, Egyptian government then intercepted fuel shipments that smugglers send to Gaza via underground tunnels.

By transferring money to Egypt, Hamas started to buy fuel at international prices, loosing an important source of financial revenue as it could not impose the same taxes on it.

While Gaza needs 350 megawatts of electricity, it gets 120 MW from Israel, and Egypt has recently increased the amount of electricity export to Gaza to 22 MW. The only power plant in Gaza has a maximum capacity of 120 MW, according to the Hamas-run Energy Authority.