Israel ordered all of Gaza’s electricity supply to be cut off on Sunday in an effort to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining Israeli hostages held in the territory.
Energy minister Eli Cohen’s announcement came a week after Israel cut off all aid supplies to the territory, which has a population of more than two million people.
In a video statement on Sunday, Cohen said: “We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after [the war].”
The decision to cut electricity is expected to primarily affect the operation of desalination plants, which are crucial for providing clean drinking water.
The government said it has not ruled out cutting off water supplies.
In his statement, Cohen said: “I have just signed the order to stop supplying electricity immediately to the Gaza Strip.”
Israel cut off most of the mains electricity supply to Gaza earlier in the war.
Talks to prolong the fragile ceasefire, the first phase of which ended on 1 March, are expected to resume in Qatar on Monday.
Israel wants Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire.
But Hamas wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase, which would see the release of the remaining hostages from Gaza, withdrawal of Israeli forces and a permanent end to war.
Hamas is believed to be holding 24 living hostages as well as the bodies of 35 others.
The militant group – which has warned that cutting off supplies to Gaza would affect the hostages as well – said on Sunday that it had wrapped up the latest round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators without changes to its position and called for an immediate start of the ceasefire’s second phase.
Gaza’s coastal territory and its infrastructure have been largely devastated by the war, and generators and solar panels are used for some of the power supply.
Israel has faced criticism over cutting off supplies to Gaza.
“Any denial of the entry of the necessities of life for civilians may amount to collective punishment,” the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.
Hamas has 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 (PA), which is based in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has rejected the PA having any role in Gaza but has not put forward an alternative for post-war rule.
Hamas’s attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and saw 251 people taken 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 the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.
Also read: Why Jenin is a focal point of conflict after Gaza ceasefire
Source: BBC
