Israel has announced that it is cutting off its electricity supply to Gaza. The full effects of this decision are not immediately clear, but Gaza’s desalination plants, which produce drinking water, rely on power.
This announcement comes a week after Israel stopped all goods shipments to Gaza, which is home to over 2 million people. Israel has sought to pressure Hamas into accepting an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire, which ended last weekend.
Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in exchange for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce, according to news agency AP.
Hamas has pressed for negotiations to begin on the second, more challenging phase of the ceasefire. On Sunday, Hamas said it had completed the latest round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators without any changes to its position, calling for an immediate start to the ceasefire’s second phase.
A new letter from Israel’s energy minister to the Israel Electric Corporation instructs it to stop selling power to Gaza.
Gaza has been largely devastated by the war, and some power is supplied through generators and solar panels.
The ceasefire has paused the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, which was sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The first phase allowed for the return of 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others, in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli forces have withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza for the first time since early in the war, and hundreds of trucks of aid entered Gaza daily until Israel suspended the supplies.
