Israel on Sunday ordered an immediate halt to Gaza’s electricity supply in an effort to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages, even as it prepared for fresh talks on the future of its truce with the Palestinian militants.
Israel’s decision came a week after it blocked all aid supplies to the war-battered territory, a move reminiscent of the initial days of the war when Israel announced a “siege” of Gaza.
Hamas described the electricity cut as “blackmail,” a term it had also used after Israel blocked the aid.
Photo: AP
The truce’s initial phase ended on March 1 and both sides have refrained from returning to all-out war, despite sporadic violence including an airstrike on Sunday that Israel said targeted militants.
Hamas has repeatedly called for an immediate start to negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase, aiming to end the war permanently.
Israel says it prefers extending phase one until the middle of next month and halted aid to Gaza over the impasse.
“I have just signed the order to stop supplying electricity immediately to the Gaza Strip,” Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen said in a video statement.
“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, he said.
Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, described Israel’s move as “a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics.”
Just days after the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas’ attack, Israel cut electricity to Gaza, only restoring it in the middle of last year.
The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies the main desalination plant, and Gazans mainly rely now on solar panels and fuel-powered generators to produce electricity.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza live in tents, with nighttime temperatures now forecast at about 12°C.
Hamas representatives met Egyptian mediators over the weekend, emphasizing the urgent need to resume aid deliveries “without restrictions or conditions,” a Hamas statement said.
“We call on mediators in Egypt and Qatar, as well as the guarantors in the US administration, to ensure that the [Israeli] occupation complies with the agreement ... and proceeds with the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.
Hamas’ key demands for the second phase include a hostage-prisoner exchange, Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, reopening border crossings and lifting the blockade, he said.
Former US president Joe Biden had also outlined a second phase involving the release of remaining living hostages, the withdrawal of all Israeli forces left in Gaza and establishment of a permanent ceasefire.
After meeting mediators, another Hamas spokesman, Abdel Latif al-Qanoua, said indicators were so far “positive.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would send delegates to Doha yesterday.
The truce largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, where virtually the entire population was displaced.
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