Israel to cut electricity in Gaza immediately, energy minister says

Israel will immediately cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said Sunday. 

“We will use all the means at our disposal to ensure that all the hostages return, and I hope that Hamas will not be in Gaza the day after,” Cohen said in a brief video statement. He added in a post on X: “Enough with the talk, it’s time for action!”

The move comes after Israel halted all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza last week, pushing the militant group Hamas to extend a United States-proposed ceasefire deal.

Talks on the truce and hostage deal are under way to end fighting between Hamas and Israel that erupted after the militant group carried out a cross-border raid in October 2023 that killed 1,200 Israelis — and triggered Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which has reportedly killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and left the besieged enclave in ruins.

Shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, both sides agreed to a ceasefire with an initial six-week phase. But while Hamas is pushing to begin talks on the second phase of the truce, Israel wants to extend the first phase of the deal to continue the hostage exchange, without any commitment to permanently end the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson said last week that Israel was prepared to ratchet up the pressure and wouldn’t rule out cutting off all electricity to Gaza if Hamas didn’t meet its demands in talks to free the hostages.

 The electricity cutoff comes after Israel and Hamas signaled on Saturday that they were preparing for the next phase of ceasefire negotiations. Hamas said there were “positive indicators” for the start of the ceasefire’s second-phase talks but did not elaborate.

Israel said it was preparing for talks in Qatar on Monday. “Israel has accepted the invitation of the mediators backed by the U.S., and will send a delegation to Doha on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations,” Netanyahu’s office said.

Israel to cut electricity in Gaza immediately, energy minister says
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