فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
Israel announced on Sunday its intention to halt the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip, ahead of new indirect negotiations expected in Doha to discuss the second phase of a ceasefire with Hamas.
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen stated in a video message on Sunday, “I have just signed an order to immediately stop the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip,” following a week after Israel decided to block humanitarian aid from entering the devastated enclave.
Cohen added, “We will use all available tools to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is not in Gaza the day after” the war, as Israel and Hamas continue to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire agreement that has been in place since January 19.
The sole power line between Israel and Gaza fuels the main desalination plant in the Strip, which serves more than 600,000 people.
Residents of Gaza rely heavily on solar panels and generators for electricity, especially since fuel is delivered to the Strip in minimal quantities.
Hamas swiftly condemned the Israeli decision, with senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq stating in a statement, “We strongly condemn the occupation’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza after depriving it of food, medicine, and water,” describing it as a “desperate attempt to pressure our people and resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail policies.”
After holding several meetings in Cairo, most notably with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel, a Hamas delegation headed by the acting head of the movement, Mohammad Darwish, traveled to Doha on Sunday in preparation for new indirect negotiations, according to a Hamas official who spoke to AFP.
Meanwhile, Israel announced that it would send a delegation to Doha on Monday “at the invitation of US-backed mediators” in an attempt to overcome disagreements over the next phase, which is supposed to lead to a definitive end to the war in the devastated enclave.
Local media reported that the Israeli mini-security cabinet is scheduled to meet on Sunday to determine the mandate of this delegation.
Amid these intensified efforts to resolve differences over the ceasefire agreement, the Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had carried out an airstrike on “terrorists” who were “attempting to plant an explosive device near its forces in the northern Gaza Strip, resulting in the death of several of them.”
The ceasefire in Gaza came into effect in January after more than fifteen months of war that erupted following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The US special envoy for hostages held in Gaza expressed confidence in the possibility of reaching an agreement to release them “within weeks,” describing the unprecedented direct talks he recently held with Hamas as “very useful.”
Adam Boulier told CNN in an interview, “I think something can be reached within weeks (…) I believe there is an agreement through which they can release all the hostages, not just the Americans.”
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement allowed for the return of 33 hostages to Israel, including eight who were deceased, while Israel released about 1,800 Palestinian detainees from its prisons.
During its meetings in Cairo, the Hamas delegation discussed “measures to implement the ceasefire agreement and push towards starting negotiations for the second phase,” demanding that mediators “oblige Israel to implement the humanitarian protocol and immediately begin the second phase, allowing aid into the Gaza Strip,” as a Hamas official told AFP on Sunday.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem stated, “We call on the mediators in Egypt and Qatar, as well as the guarantors in the US administration, to oblige the occupation to implement the agreement, allow the entry of relief and humanitarian aid, and begin the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms.”
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement lasted six weeks. With its expiration at the end of last week, Israel announced its desire to extend it until mid-April based on a US proposal.
According to Israel, the proposal involves releasing “half of the hostages, both living and dead,” on the first day of the extension, with the remaining hostages (living or dead) to be released upon reaching a permanent ceasefire agreement. Israel conditions this on the “complete disarmament” of the Strip, the exit of Hamas from Gaza, and the return of the remaining hostages before moving to the second phase.
