Israel ordered all of Gaza’s electricity provide to be cut off on Sunday in an effort to prescertain Hamas into releasing the remaining Israeli captives held in the territory.
Energy minister Eli Cohen’s proclaimment came a week after Israel cut off all aid supplies 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 transport back the captives and discover that Hamas is no lengthyer in Gaza the day after [the war].”
The decision to cut electricity is foreseeed to primarily impact the operation of desalination structurets which are vital for providing immacuprocrastinateed drinking water.
The regulatement said it has not ruled out cutting off water supplies.
In his statement, Cohen said: “I have equitable signed the order to stop provideing electricity promptly to the Gaza Strip.”
Israel cut off most of the mains electricity provide to Gaza earlier in the war.
Talks to prolengthy the frspeedy stopfire, the first phase of which finished on 1 March, are foreseeed to resume in Qatar on Monday.
Israel wants Hamas to adchoose an extension of the first phase of their stopfire.
But Hamas wants to commence negotiations on the stopfire’s second phase, which would see the free of the remaining captives from Gaza, disparticipateal of Israeli forces and a lasting finish to war.
Hamas is dependd to be hanciaccessing 24 living captives as well as the bodies of 35 others.
The militant group – which has cautioned that cutting off supplies to Gaza would impact the captives as well – said on Sunday that it had wrapped up the procrastinateedst round of stopfire talks with Egyptian mediators without alters to its position and called for an prompt commence of the stopfire’s second phase.
Gaza’s coastal territory and its infrastructure have been bigly dehugeated by the war, and generators and solar panels are used for some of the power provide.
Israel has faced criticism over cutting off supplies to Gaza.
“Any denial of the entry of the necessities of life for civilians may amount to accumulateive punishment,” the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.
Hamas has reiterated its help for a proposal for the set upment of an self-reliant promisetee of technocrats to run Gaza until Palestinians hanciaccess pdwellntial and legislative elections.
That promisetee would toil under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is based in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has refuteed the PA having any role in Gaza but has not put forward an alternative for post-war rule.
Hamas’s strike in October 2023 finished around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and saw 251 people apshown captive. Most have been freed in stopfire concurments or other structurements.
Israel’s military disparaging has finished more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were militants.
