Israel has ordered an immediate halt to electricity supply to Gaza, threatening the functioning of the enclave’s desalination plants amid an ongoing aid shortage in the holy month of Ramadan.
In a post on X, Israel’s Energy Minister Eli Cohen said he has signed an order to “cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip immediately”. “Enough with the talk, it’s time for action!” he added.
Sunday’s announcement comes more than a week after Israel cut off all supplies of goods to the territory to over two million people after reneging on the ceasefire deal that ended the 15-month-long Gaza war. Nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed and vast swathes of Gaza have been turned into rubble after non-stop Israeli bombardment.
Israel wants to extend the first phase of the three-phase deal, while the Hamas group wants the deal to move to phase two, as initially agreed by both sides. Analysts say Israel’s refusal to enter phase two shows its unwillingness to withdraw its troops from the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land that separates Gaza from Egypt. Hamas has accused Israel of trying to derail the existing ceasefire agreement and dubbed the aid blockade a “cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack” on the ceasefire. Aid groups and rights campaigners have accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity and violating international humanitarian laws for cutting off aid. (Agencies) page 5
