Israel stops electricity deliveries in the Gaza Strip

Conflict in the Middle East

Israel stops electricity deliveries in the Gaza Strip

A week ago, Israel decided to stop in the Gaza Strip at the end of the first phase of the ceasefire. Now follows a step that further worsens the living conditions.

After the stop of humanitarian aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip, Israel also interrupts the delivery of electricity in the blocked coastal strips. The Israeli Minister of Energy Eli Cohen announced that he had signed a corresponding arrangement. The aim is to put pressure on the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas, which still holds dozens of hostages.

“We will use all the means that are available to us so that all hostages return, and we will ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after,” said Cohen in a video message.

After the first phase of a ceasefire, Israel had already arranged a full stop of the aid deliveries a week ago to put Hamas under pressure. Aid organizations have warned of dramatic consequences for the two million inhabitants of the coastal strip.

The power supply of the Gaza Strip by lines from Israel and Egypt had been incomplete for years. After the start of the Gaza War a year and a half ago, the only power plant in the Gaza Strip had also stopped production. Many people help themselves with solar energy and generators.

Hamas spokesman Hasem Kassem said that Israel was de facto stopped the power supply to the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

The Israeli news portal “YNET” reported that since the beginning of the war, Israel has only delivered electricity to the Gaza Strip via a line. In front of the massacre of Hamas and other extremist organizations on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 drafted, were there were still ten lines. The remaining line is directly connected to water treatment plants. Your cap could therefore contribute to the shortage of water in the coastal strip. The army had warned in the past that such a step could also endanger the hostages. “Ynet” reported, citing an Israeli government representative, which was not mentioned by name, and a stop of the water deliveries to Gaza would also be considered.

In the ongoing genocide process against Israel, the International Court of Justice obliged the country last year to allow the delivery of significantly more relief goods in the Gaza Strip. At that time, the judges also included water, electricity, clothing and tents.

The International Criminal Court also issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November and the now dismissed Israeli Minister of Defense Joav Galant due to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza War. The judges saw sufficient reasons for the assumption that Netanyahu and gallant “deliberately and knowingly withheld the civilian population in Gaza Strip essential things for their survival, including food, water as well as medication and medical aids as well as fuels and electricity”.