Israel ordered for all of Gaza’s electricity supply to be cut off which will mainly affect desalination plants, which are vital for offering clean drinking water to displaced citizens
Fears have grown in Gaza after Israel cut off its electricity supply to a huge water plant, stopping vital access to drinking supplies.
Hamas has branded the move as Israel’s “starvation policy”, with the desalination plant producing clean drinking water. It comes after Israel stopped supplies of goods to the territory of more than two million Palestinians.
Israel issued the cut-off on the weekend in a bid to force Hamas to free the rest of the Israeli hostages held in the territory. It has been reported that Hamas is holding 24 hostages who are still alive, while holding the bodies of 35 others.
Hamas has pressed to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace. Hamas on Sunday said it wrapped up the latest round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators without changes to its position, calling for an immediate start of the ceasefire’s second phase.
A new letter from Israel’s energy minister to the Israel Electric Corporation tells it to stop selling power to Gaza. Israel had warned when it stopped all goods supplies that water and electricity could be next. The territory and its infrastructure have been largely devastated, and most facilities including hospitals now use generators.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassam said that Israel has “practically” cut off electricity since the war began and called the latest decision part of Israel’s “starvation policy, in clear disregard for all international laws and norms”. The desalination plant was providing 18,000 cubic meters of water per day for central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah area, according to Gisha, an Israeli organisation dedicated to protecting Palestinians’ right to freedom of movement.
Executive director Tania Hary said it is expected to run on generators and produce around 2,500 cubic meters per day, about the amount in an Olympic swimming pool. Israel’s restrictions on fuel entering Gaza have a larger impact, Ms Hary said, and water shortages are a looming issue because fuel is needed for distribution trucks.
Israel has faced sharp criticism over suspending supplies. “Any denial of the entry of the necessities of life for civilians may amount to collective punishment,” the UN human rights office said on Friday. The International Criminal Court said there was reason to believe Israel had used “starvation as a method of warfare” when it issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year. The allegation is central to South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.
Israel has denied the accusations, saying it has allowed in enough aid and blaming shortages on what it called the United Nations’ inability to distribute it. It also accused Hamas of siphoning off aid. The ceasefire has paused the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023.
