Israel to Supply Electricity to Gaza

Israelis started work on Tuesday to connect their electricity grid to a water desalination plant in the Gaza Strip to increase provision for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians sheltering in the al-Muwasi area to 20,000 litres a day.

IDF sources explained that this policy is an important aspect of demonstrating that Israel takes its responsibilities towards civilians seriously while waging war against terrorist organisations like Hamas.

The Deir al-Balakh desalination plant (photo: IDF spokesperson’s unit).

That war is moving into a new phase as the large-scale fighting with Hamas is nearly complete and the need becomes one of watching carefully for renewed activity by smaller groups of terrorists.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said the “action will be carried out specifically in a humanitarian way to operate the water desalination plant in Gaza.”

The Gaza Electricity Company is said to be preparing to increase operations at the UNICEF-managed Deir al-Balakh desalination facility to the north of Khan Younis.

Several members of Israel’s government have criticised the initiative, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who appealed to Benjamin Netanyahu to stop “this foolishness.”

Avigdor Lieberman, head of opposition party Yisrael Beiteinu, also criticised the move, calling for “complete disconnection” from Gaza. “No electricity, no water, no fuel, and no goods,” he said, in a reflection of how hard Israelis find it to help Gazans who are still largely supportive of Hamas.