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Ramadan in Gaza Photo: AP Ramadan in Gaza Photo: AP

Israel has announced on Sunday that they are immediately cutting off electricity supply to Gaza a week after they cut off humanitarian aid entering the war-torn state. Without electricity365jdb, the arid territory's desalination plants won't receive power for producing drinking water.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed that this is one of Israel's 'cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics' ahead of next round of ceasefire negotiations.

Israel seeks to press the militant group to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire which ended last weekend. Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.

The coastal territory and its infrastructure have been largely devastated by the war, and generators and solar panels are used for some of the power supply. The electricity cut also could affect water pumps and sanitation.

Now, with the cutoff of all supplies to Gaza, Palestinians are reporting sharp price increase for dwindling items that too in the middle of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Hamas Responds

Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas's political bureau was quoted by Agence France Presse, "Israel's move is a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics".

Hamas instead wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire's more difficult second phase, which would see the release of remaining hostages from Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a lasting peace. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.

The militant group — which has warned that cutting off supplies to Gaza would affect the hostages as well — said Sunday it wrapped up the latest round of ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators without changes to its position, calling for an immediate start of the ceasefire's second phase.

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According to AFP, Hamas reiterated its support for the proposal for an independent committee of technocrats to be established who will run Gaza until Palestinians hold presidential and legislative elections.

That committee would reportedly work “under the umbrella” of the Palestinian Authority, based in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has rejected the PA having any role in Gaza, but hasn't put forward an alternative for postwar rule,66br cassino as per reports.

Israel Agreed To Send Delegation For Ceasefire Negotiations

Israel has said it would send a delegation to Qatar on Monday “in an effort to advance the negotiations” around the ceasefire.

Israel had warned when it stopped all supplies that water and electricity could be next. The new letter from Israel's energy minister to the Israel Electric Corporation tells it to stop selling power to Gaza.

Israel has faced sharp criticism over cutting off supplies to Gaza. “Any denial of the entry of the necessities of life for civilians may amount to collective punishment,” the United Nations human rights office said Friday.

The International Criminal Court said there was reason to believe Israel had used “starvation as a method of warfare” when it issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year. The allegation is also central to South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.

Israel has denied the accusations. It says it has allowed in enough aid and blamed shortages on what it called the U.N.'s inability to distribute it. It also accused Hamas of siphoning off aid.

The ceasefire has paused the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The first phase allowed the return of 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli forces have withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza for the first time since early in the war and hundreds of trucks of aid entered per day until Israel suspended supplies.

Hamas' attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and took 251 people hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements.

Israel's military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children365jdb, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't say how many of the dead were militants.