Israel is cutting off its electricity supply to Gaza as the country’s energy minister vowed to use “all the tools available” to free the last of the hostages held by Hamas.
The supply of electricity into the Gaza Strip from Israel was cut off suddenly on Sunday by the Israel Electric Corporation on the orders of Energy Minister Eli Cohen.
“We will employ all the tools available to us so that all the hostages will return, and we will ensure that Hamas won’t be in Gaza on the ‘day after,’” Cohen said in a short video statement.
The decision to cut electricity is expected to also cut off a major source of clean drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents of the war-torn territory — a desalination plant, which converts salt water to fresh water.
Israel previously cut electricity from Israel to Gaza in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks, but that November, the country announced the renewal of supply to the desalination plant close to Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
This plant, which serves more than 600,000 residents of Gaza, has now had its power cut off by Israel.
The facility is one of three seawater processing plants in the Gaza Strip, which, before the war, met around 15% of the water needs for the more than 2 million residents of the territory.
Israel has not ruled out cutting off water supplies to Gaza, the government said on Sunday.
The move came a week after Israel announced it was halting the entry of goods into Gaza on March 2, in response to what it called the Hamas terror group’s refusal to accept a proposal to extend the initial stage of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.
