Location at an overview: Israel turns Gaza off the electricity – new conversations in Qatar

After the stop of humanitarian aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip, Israel is now also cutting the power supply for the sealed off coastal area. With the measures that the Palestinian civilian population, which is already in need, Israel wants to increase the pressure on Islamist Hamas that remained in their violence. An Israeli delegation is said to travel to Qatar today to advance the talks about a continuation of the ceasefire and the release of the hostages.

“We will use all the means that are available to us so that all hostages return, and we will ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after,” said Israeli Minister of Energy Eli Cohen in a video message. He therefore ordered Gaza to turn off the electricity immediately. “Start of the talk, it’s time to act!” He wrote on X.

Israel cuts last power line

According to the Israeli news portal “Ynet”, Israel has only delivered electricity in the devastated Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war. This is directly connected to a water treatment plant. In front of the massacre of Hamas and other extremist organizations on October 7, 2023 in Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 deported, be it still ten lines. The cap of the last electricity route could also tighten the water shortage in the coastal area.

Israel had actually stopped the power supply in October 2023, said Hamas spokesman Hasem Kassem. Many people help themselves with solar power and generators. Hamas spoke on Telegram of an attempt to “strengthen the pressure on our Palestinian people and the resistance through its cheap and unacceptable blackmail policy”. Israel violates the agreements and disregarded international laws.

Further measures could follow

After the first phase of the ceasefire entering into force on January 19, Israel had already ordered a full stop of the aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip a week ago. Aid organizations warned of dramatic consequences for the two million inhabitants of the coastal strips drawn by severe war damage, poverty and lack of food. The news portal “Ynet” reported, citing an Israeli government representative, which was not mentioned by name, and a stop of the water deliveries was also considered.

If these steps do not show the desired effect, Israel could pass to air strikes and “tactical” missions against Hamas, the “Wall Street Journal” quoted an Israeli security analyst that is familiar with the planning. Next, a renewed resettlement of the residents from the north into the south could follow. As a last measure, Israel could fully record the war again and, with far more military force than before the ceasefire, could be done.

So far, Israel and Hamas have not been able to agree on the conditions of an extension of the ceasefire. According to Israeli information, the Islamist organization still has 24 hostages and 35 corpses of abducted violence. Five of them also have the US citizenship – only one of them, a young man, is still alive. The German press agency had confirmed that the German press agency had been involved in the past few days that direct discussions with the US government have taken place on American hostages and a possible more comprehensive agreement to terminate the Gaza War.

Hamas representatives have now indicated that they were willing to enter into an interim agreement on the handing over of the American kidnapped – in return for an extension of the ceasefire, guarantees for the recording of conversations about the second phase and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, wrote the “Wall Street Journal”.

Negotiations are continued

The second phase provides for the release of all hostages and a permanent end of the war. However, Israel continues to pursue the war destination of Hamas’s complete breakdown and sees a continuation of the rule of the Palestinian terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip as unacceptable. A delegation of Hamas has had talks with Egyptian intermediaries in Cairo in the past few days and left on Sunday towards Qatar, as the dpa learned from airport circles.

In the Qatarian capital Doha, the indirect negotiations are to be continued today, in which Qatar, Egypt and the United States act as an intermediary between the two warring parties. Israel will also send a delegation to Doha today to advance the negotiations, as the Israeli head of government Benjamin Netanyahu announced. According to information on the US news page “Axios”, the US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will probably be added on Tuesday evening.