By Ahmed Asmar
ANKARA (AA) – Israel provided the Gaza Strip with only five megawatts of electricity since last November before its recent decision to cut off power to the enclave, a Palestinian spokesman said on Tuesday.
“These five megawatts were used solely to operate a desalination facility in central Gaza after interventions by international and UN agencies,” Mohammad Thabet, a spokesman of the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company, told Anadolu.
He said the Palestinian enclave’s actual needs for electricity are estimated at around 500 megawatts per hour.
Israel cut off the electricity supply to Gaza on Sunday, in the latest move to tighten a stifling blockade on the Palestinian enclave despite a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.
The Israeli decision drew widespread condemnations from across the world, including by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese who warned that the Israeli move amounts to a “genocide alert,” arguing that without electricity, there is no clean water.
Last week, Israel stopped humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, prompting warnings from local and human rights groups of a return to widespread hunger for the Palestinian population.
More than 48,500 people have been killed, mostly women and children, in a brutal Israeli war on Gaza since October 2023. The onslaught was paused under the ceasefire and prisoner swap deal, which took hold in January.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.