Israel to cut the electricity supply to Gaza, says the minister

Israel ordered that the entire Gaza electricity supply be cut on Sunday in an effort to press Hamas to free the remaining Israeli hostages in the territory.

The announcement of the Minister of Energy Eli Cohen occurred a week after Israel cut all supplies of help to the territory, which has a population of more than two million people.

In a video statement on Sunday, Cohen said: “We will use all the tools at our disposal to recover the hostages and make sure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the next day (the war).”

The decision to reduce electricity mainly affects the functioning of desalination plants that are crucial to provide clean drinking water is expected.

The government said it has not ruled out cutting water supplies.

In his statement, Cohen said: “I just signed the order to stop supplying electricity immediately to the gaza strip.”

Israel cut the majority of the supply of electricity from the network to Gaza at the beginning of the war.

Speak to prolong the Fragile pressuresThe first phase of which ended on March 1, is expected to resume in Qatar on Monday.

Israel wants Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of its high fire.

But Hamas wants to begin negotiations in the second phase of the Alto El Fuego, which would see the liberation of the remaining hostages of Gaza, the withdrawal of the Israeli forces and a permanent end of the war.

It is believed that Hamas has 24 live hostages, as well as the bodies of another 35.

The militant group, who warned that cutting the supplies to Gaza would also affect the hostages, said Sunday that the last round of high -fire high conversations had ended with Egyptian mediators without changes in their position and requested an immediate beginning of the second phase of the high fire.

Gaza’s coastal territory and its infrastructure have been largely devastated by war, and solar generators and panels are used for part of the energy supply.

Israel has faced criticism for cutting supplies to Gaza.

“Any denial of the entry of the needs of life for civilians can be equivalent to collective punishment,” the United Nations Human Rights Office said Friday.

Hamas has reiterated its support for a proposal for the establishment of an independent committee of technocrats to direct Gaza until the Palestinians have presidential and legislative elections.

That committee would work under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is based on occupied West Bank.

Israel has rejected that the AP has any role in Gaza, but has not presented an alternative for the postwar government.

Hamas’s attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, within Israel and saw 251 people taken as hostages. Most have been published in high fire agreements or other agreements.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Ministry of Health led by Hamas, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.