Israel cuts off electricity supply to Gaza

Israel has cut off the electricity supply to Gaza, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the arid territory.

Hamas called it part of Israel’s “starvation policy”.

Israel last week suspended supplies of goods to the territory of more than two million Palestinians, an echo of the siege it imposed in the earliest days of the war.

It has sought to force Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire – a phase which ended last weekend.

Hamas has pressed to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase instead, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace.

Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.

The militant group 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.

The 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 that 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.

Israeli forces have withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza for the first time since early in the war and hundreds of trucks of aid entered per day until Israel suspended supplies.

The White House on Wednesday made the surprise confirmation of direct US talks with Hamas.

On Sunday, envoy Adam Boehler told CNN: “I think you could see something like a long-term truce, where we forgive prisoners, where Hamas lays down their arms, where they agree they’re not part of the political party going forward. I think that’s a reality. It’s real close.”

When asked by CNN if he would speak with the militant group again, Mr Boehler replied: “You never know.”

He added that “I think something could come together within weeks” and expressed hope for a deal that would see all hostages released, not only the American ones.

Hamas on Sunday reiterated its support for a proposal for the establishment of an independent committee of technocrats to run Gaza until Palestinians hold presidential and legislative elections.

That committee would work “under the umbrella” of the Palestinian Authority, based in the occupied West Bank. Israel has rejected the PA having any role in Gaza, but has not put forward an alternative for postwar rule.

Hamas’s attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and took 251 people hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Now, with the cutoff of all supplies to Gaza, Palestinians are reporting sharp price increases for dwindling items as fears grow again.

“Since the ceasefire began, the situation has improved a little. But before that, the situation was very bad,” said Fares al-Qeisi in the southern city of Khan Younis. “I swear to God, one could not satisfy their hunger.”