Israel’s decision comes a week after it blocked all aid supplies to the war-battered territory, a move reminiscent of the initial days of the war when Israel announced a “siege” on Gaza.
The truce's initial phase ended on March 1 and both sides have refrained from returning to all-out war, despite sporadic violence including an air strike Sunday that Israel said targeted militants.
Israel says it prefers extending phase one until mid-April, and halted aid to Gaza over the impasse.
“I have just signed the order to stop supplying electricity immediately to the Gaza Strip,“ Energy Minister Eli Cohen said in a video statement.
Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, described Israel’s move as “a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics”.
The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies the main desalination plant, and Gazans mainly rely now on solar panels and fuel-powered generators to produce electricity.
Situation 'dire'
“We call on mediators in Egypt and Qatar, as well as the guarantors in the US administration, to ensure that the (Israeli) occupation complies with the agreement... and proceeds with the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms,“ spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP.
Former United States president Joe Biden had also outlined a second phase involving the release of remaining living hostages, the withdrawal of all Israeli forces left in Gaza, and establishment of a permanent ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it would send delegates to Doha on Monday.
The six-week first phase led to the exchange of 25 living Israeli hostages and eight bodies for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
After Israel cut off the aid flow, UN rights experts accused the government of “weaponising starvation”.
Fears for hostages
He also said Gazans who “hold Hostages... are DEAD!”
The official who held the talks with Hamas, US hostage envoy Adam Boehler, told CNN on Sunday that a deal could be reached “within weeks” to “get all of the prisoners out, not just the Americans”.
Trump has floated a widely condemned plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza, prompting Arab leaders to offer an alternative that would see reconstruction financed through a trust fund, with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority returning to govern the Hamas-ruled territory.
Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, while Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,458 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Israel halts Gaza electricity supply ahead of new truce talks )
Also on site :