Seif Magango, spokesman for the UN human rights office, has said that Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza is “very concerning”.
“With no electricity and with fuel being blocked, Gaza’s remaining water desalination plants, healthcare facilities, and bakeries are at risk of eventually shutting down, with dire consequences for civilians,” Magango said.
He said that as the occupying power, Israel had a legal obligation to ensure the provision of the necessities of life for Palestinians living under its control.
“In addition, blocking access to the necessities of life for civilians intended to pressure a party to an armed conflict through hardship imposed on the civilian population as a whole raises serious concerns of collective punishment,” the spokesman added.
As Israel’s blockade on food, medicine, fuel and shelter for Gaza enters a ninth day, the grim situation in Gaza may linger.
Gaza relies on two primary sources of electricity. Ten power lines from an Israeli electricity company supplied about 110 megawatts before the war, more than half of Gaza’s total power supply. The rest came from a diesel power plant inside the Strip, which generated up to 75 megawatts before the war, but it was destroyed by Israeli shelling.
Electricity is essential for much of the Strip’s daily life, including powering a water desalination plant in central Gaza. Without power, there is likely to be a lack of drinkable water.
Throughout the war, Israel has been accused by human rights organisations of committing acts of genocide, including by denying clean water to Palestinians.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Israel is not allowing anything to enter Gaza, including humanitarian aid and fuel, and calls for the restoration of electricity to the territory.
Israeli negotiators were due in Doha on Monday as mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the US tried to revive the Gaza ceasefire.
Hamas condemned Israel’s cut-off of electricity to a key desalination plant that provides drinking water to residents in central and southern Gaza, accusing the Israeli government of “cheap and unacceptable blackmail”.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has confirmed 48,467 Palestinian deaths in Israel’s war on Gaza, with 111,913 people wounded. Gaza’s Government Media Office has updated its death toll to at least 61,709, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are presumed dead. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Reacting to the situation, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned “in the strongest terms” Israel’s decision to cut off electrical power to Gaza, calling the move a “scandalous violation” of international law.
The ministry added in a statement that the Israeli decision represents a doubling-down on “the policy of starvation and siege that Israel is imposing on Palestinians, especially with the continuation of the blockade on humanitarian aid to the strip”.
