JERUSALEM, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Israeli officials announced the flow of natural gas from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt would slowly return following a string of attacks on a key pipeline.
A September attack on a natural gas pipeline in the Sinai Peninsula was the sixth such assault since Hosni Mubarak's regime was toppled during the country's revolution in February.
Israel buys about 40 percent of its natural gas from Egypt. Jordan, on the same pipeline, uses Egyptian gas to generate 80 percent of its electricity.
The Israeli Minister of National Infrastructures, in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg News, said the flow of natural gas from Israel started last week. Transmissions would be gradually increased to full capacity, the statement added.
There's been no gas from Egypt since attacks in July. Engineers said damage caused by a July 4 explosion on the same pipeline was nearly repaired at the time of the attack.
Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian, said in an audio message that surfaced in August that he commended the "heroes" who blew up the pipeline.
