Gaza’s power authority has said the blockaded enclave’s sole power plant will run out of fuel within hours, leaving the Palestinian territory without electricity after Israel cut off supplies in retaliation to the recent attacks by Hamas, the armed group that runs Gaza.
Palestinian Energy Authority Chairman Thafer Melhem told Voice of Palestine radio on Wednesday that the plant would shut down in the afternoon in Gaza, where about 2.3 million people live in one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
“This threatens to plunge the Strip into complete darkness and make it impossible to continue providing all basic life services, all of which depend on electricity, and it will not be possible to operate them partially with generators in light of the prevention of fuel supplies from Rafah Gate,” said a statement issued by Gaza’s authorities on Wednesday.
“This catastrophic situation creates a humanitarian crisis for all residents of the Gaza Strip,” it said.
The statement referred to Israel’s retaliation “as the dirtiest crime of collective punishment against defenceless civilians in modern history”.
It called on the international community to move quickly to stop “this crime against humanity and this multi-form mass murder”.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said “the fuel stock to operate the generators in the Gaza Strip hospitals will end tomorrow, Thursday, which will exacerbate the disastrous conditions in the hospitals”.
All of Gaza’s crossings are closed, making it impossible to bring in fuel for the power plant or the generators on which residents and hospitals have long relied.
It does legally.
The Nazis established a military government in Vichy France. Israel let Gaza elect their own leaders, they chose Hamas. Therefore Vichy France was a military occupation, current day Gaza is not. Definitions matter when we are talking about law.
I think the most viable solution would be for Palestine to make serious concessions and negotiate seriously for peace. Since they seem unwilling to negotiate or cease hostilities despite not having any viable path to victory, I would not be at all surprised if Israel systemically levels every structure in Gaza and forces the population there to leave for their own safety. Final solution implies killing them all, which Israel won't do, but it will deny them everything.
I think Israel has a right to defend itself, and this "terrorist organization" is the elected government of the Gaza territory. This is more like a war between states even though many countries do not recognize one or both parties as states. When a state declares war on and attacks another one it puts their entire population in peril. Unlike Hamas, I don't think Israel is interested in killing civilians, but Hamas has created a situation where many civilians, civilians they are hiding among, will die when Israel predictably defends itself. They will then predictably blame Israel for the consequences of their own bloody, genocidal war crimes.
I am not familiar enough with the situation there to weigh in.
Well that's troubling, ethnic cleansing is never okay.