Global actors express shock, condemnation at Israel severing power to Gaza

Israel’s move to cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip has generated criticism from foreign governments, Palestinian groups and human rights bodies.

Israel’s energy minister Eli Cohen on Sunday ordered the stoppage of electricity into the battered enclave. The decision came a week after Israel suspended aid deliveries into Gaza.

“We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after” the conflict, he said.

Here are some of the reactions from around the region and the world:

Hamas

Hamas on Monday accused Israel of “cheap and unacceptable blackmail” over its decision on Sunday to halt the electricity supply to Gaza in an effort to pressure the Palestinian group into releasing captives.

“We strongly condemn the occupation’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine, and water,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau said in a statement, adding it was “a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics”.

Palestinian Authority

Meanwhile, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority called Israel’s decision to halt the electricity supply to Gaza “an escalation in the genocide” in the besieged territory.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the Israeli Ministry of Energy’s decision to cut electricity to the Gaza Strip, considering it an escalation in the genocide, displacement and humanitarian disaster in Gaza”.

United Kingdom

The British government called on Israel to restore the electricity supply to Gaza, warning the country could violate international law.

“We’re deeply concerned by these reports and urge Israel to lift these restrictions,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s official spokesman told reporters. “We’re clear that a halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, including basic needs such as electricity, risks breaching Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.”

Germany

The German government said that Israel’s decision to halt aid deliveries and cut off the electricity supply to Gaza could prompt a fresh humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.

Referring to the decision to stop aid, foreign ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said Gaza was “again threatened with a food shortage” and that cutting off of electricity was “unacceptable and not compatible with [Israel’s] obligations under international law”.

UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese

UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory Francesa Albanese has said Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza means “no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water”.

In a post on X, she said, “genocide alert,” and added that countries that were yet to impose sanctions or an arms embargo on Israel were “aiding and assisting Israel in the commission of one of the most preventable genocides of our history”.