Israel has announced it has cut off Gaza’s electricity supply, one week after it suspended the delivery of humanitarian supplies to the territory.
The country’s Energy Minister gave instructions to stop the power supply on Sunday night as part of a “hell plan” to force Hamas into making concessions.
“We will use all the means at our disposal to ensure that all the hostages return,” Eli Cohen said on Sunday night.
“I have just signed the order to stop supplying electricity immediately to the Gaza Strip,” Cohen added.
Israel has demanded Hamas release half of the remaining hostages it kidnapped on 7th October 2023 in return for a promise to negotiate lasting peace. But rather than extend the first phase of the ceasefire, which came to an end last week, Hamas wants to start negotiations on the second phase instead.
The six-week first phase of the ceasefire resulted in the return of 25 living Israeli hostages and the remains of eight others, for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Hamas condemned the move from Israel as “a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics,” AlJazeera reports.
“Cutting off electricity, closing the crossings, stopping aid, relief and fuel, and starving our people, constitutes collective punishment and a full-fledged war crime,” Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement.
As of last night, Israel Electric Corporation has been given instructions to stop selling power to Gaza, which has a population of around 2.1 million people. The order will primarily deactivate the main desalination plant in Deir el-Balah, located in the middle of the Gaza strip, producing water for more than 600,000 residents during normal times.
The electricity supply was previously cut off after the Hamas-led attack on October 7th. After a year of blackout, the supply to the plant was restored in November 2024.
Since the October 7th massacre, which killed 1,200 Israelis, triggered the war in Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has estimated some 48,467 Palestinians have died in Israel’s war on Gaza, with 111,913 people wounded.
However, a study published in the Lancet in January 2025 estimated that the number of deaths may be 40 per cent higher than previously reported, estimating that some 64,260 people are likely to have died as a result of trauma between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2024.
Gaza, which has been devastated by the war, has largely relied on alternatives to make do, including solar panels and generators for power supply.
Last week, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson said that Israel was prepared to increase pressure and was prepared to cut off all electricity to Gaza if Hamas didn’t meet its demands in talks to free the remaining hostages.
Hamas has referred to “positive indicators” for the start of the next stage of ceasefire negotiations, as Israel said it was preparing for talks in Qatar on Monday.
“Israel has accepted the invitation of the mediators backed by the U.S., and will send a delegation to Doha on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations,” Mr Netanyahu’s office said.