Four universities in the Gaza Strip shut down today because of fuel shortages that are preventing students from getting to classes, the Associated Press reported. More than 45,000 students are affected by the closure, which is scheduled to last until Thursday.

“This is a genuine crisis,” said Ali al-Najjar, an official from Al-Azhar University in Gaza City, which is affiliated with the Fatah movement of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. The university closed for several days earlier this month after clashes on its campus that were blamed on the rival Hamas group, which controls the Palestinian parliament and seized power in Gaza last year.

Bassam Sakka, dean of students at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University, told the AP that administrators there were putting together an emergency plan for continuing instruction. Such a plan could involve conducting lectures over the Internet and radio.

The causes of the fuel shortage are mired in political debate. Israel, which is Gaza’s only fuel supplier, reduced deliveries in recent months to try to pressure Hamas loyalists to halt their rocket fire into southern Israel. Distributors in Gaza then stopped selling fuel on hand to protest the cutbacks. Hamas cites the shortages to play up Palestinian suffering, but Israeli officials say Hamas could solve the problem by picking up supplies lying idle at a depot. —Charles Huckabee