Israel cuts electricity supply to Gaza, escalating blockade as supplies dwindle

Israel said it was cutting its supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip on Sunday evening, expanding a blockade that it began nine days ago to pressure Hamas to change the ceasefire deal.

The electricity cuts affected a desalination plant that provides fresh water to Palestinians in Gaza.

Residents of the strip told Mada Masr in recent days that they have already been forced to stop eating meat and bread, as the blockade that began last week drove up prices and led to the closure of several bakeries.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen announced the power cut to Gaza on Sunday night, stating that “now is the time for action.”

Many Palestinians in the strip are accustomed to relying on smaller diesel-fueled generators given frequent cuts from the Israeli power line.

But the line from Israel supplies a desalination plant in Deir al-Balah that delivers fresh water tanks to neighborhoods.

The cut will reduce power supply to Palestinians in Gaza’s center and south by around 70 percent, according to a Monday statement from the Deir al-Balah Municipality.

The water cuts escalated the blockade that began on March 2, severing the strip from all supplies delivered from both Egypt and Israel. Tel Aviv announced at the time that the blockade was intended to pressure Hamas into agreeing to extend the first phase of the ceasefire and release all the remaining abductees in its custody.

Hamas, meanwhile, has refused the extension, pushing instead to begin negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire deal, which was to see the remainder of the prisoner exchange completed alongside Israel’s withdrawal of its military forces from the Gaza Strip.

Talks toward a resolution are ongoing, with Israel stating on Sunday that it had finally accepted an invitation to negotiations on the second phase of the deal in Doha. But in the meantime, supplies are dwindling for Palestinians living in Gaza, according to several residents who spoke to Mada Masr.

Resident Ahmed Eid said, “the price of one kilogram of sugar has surged to 15 shekels, up from just four before the crossings were shut, while vegetables prices have increased fivefold compared to prices during the first phase of the ceasefire.”

Mohamed Ahmed, a resident of Gaza City, said he waits for hours in a long queue outside the Aailat bakery in the Nasr neighborhood to secure a bundle of bread for Ramadan breakfast for his family and his brother’s family, who moved in after Israel's bombardment destroyed their home and left them displaced.

Ahmed said that many food items have become more expensive since the blockade, so the families have cut meat and poultry from their diet, eating mainly rice, tomatoes and legumes instead.

Ahmed’s household is sustained by his wife’s salary as a doctor at Gaza’s Health Ministry, of which she receives only a portion once every two months.

But many other families lost their incomes altogether due to the war, leaving them reliant on humanitarian aid and hot meals provided by charity kitchens, said Wedad al-Nashar, a mother in her forties who was injured in the aggression.

 “We go to charity kitchens because we can’t afford food,” she told Mada Masr. “A chicken costs 100 shekels. This war has humiliated us even more. My children and I need to eat.”

For Amin al-Akkad, displaced to Mawasi, Khan Younis, charity kitchens have become his only means for food. “We have rice for [Ramadan] breakfast and rice for suhoor,” he said, expressing fear that food prices will continue to rise — especially the suhoor staples, which he can no longer afford.

In his displacement area, the portions and variety of meals provided by charity kitchens have dwindled, with some now serving plain rice only.

Every day, children and the elderly gather at the charity kitchens, but the demand is immense. Relief worker Saad Abdeen, who oversees the Saada charity kitchen in Mawasi, told Mada Masr that his kitchen, once serving meat and poultry, now only offers plain rice, lentils, white beans, or peas.

Spokesperson for Gaza’s Social Development Ministry Aziza al-Kahlout told Mada Masr that the closures have disrupted all supply channels to the besieged strip, affecting both humanitarian aid and commercial supply.

In the absence of new deliveries, Palestinians are now relying solely on supplies that entered Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which began on January 19 and ended on March 1.

“These supplies will last only a few days, not months, as Israel claims,” Salama Maarouf, head of Gaza’s government media office, told Mada Masr.

Maarouf said Israel allowed the entry of around 161,000 tons of goods and aid during the first phase, falling short of its commitments to allow adequate food supplies based on the agreed number of trucks. He added that a maximum of 300 trucks entered Gaza daily during the 42-day first phase, half of the 600 stipulated in the agreement.

With border crossings still closed, famine is looming over Gaza, Maarouf warned. Local authorities, he added, are working to control the prices of goods, particularly food.