The sole power plant in the Gaza Strip shut down after it ran out of fuel, the Palestinian enclave’s electricity authority said on Wednesday. “The only power plant in the Gaza Strip stopped functioning at 2:00 pm (local time),” the authority’s head Jalal Ismail said in a statement, according to AFP.
This development comes as the death toll continues to spike five days after the Palestinian militant outfit Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, which has responded with bombardment of Gaza. Israel declared war on Sunday and has since carried out thousands of air strikes inside Gaza. The bombing campaign is said to have destroyed more than 1,000 housing units, and 560 have been severely damaged, according to UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
Israeli authorities have ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, which includes blocking of water supply, fuel, internet and electricity to the coastal enclave. Israel controls the air space over Gaza and its shoreline and monitors who and what goods are allowed in and out through its border crossings.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it had recaptured border areas along Gaza that had been taken by Hamas in Saturday’s assault and has massed its military forces around the Palestinian enclave. In the north, Israel’s military has exchanged cross-border fire with groups in Lebanon and Syria.
On Wednesday, Israeli diplomat Tammy Ben-Haim said the country’s priority is to devastate Hamas so much that the militant group doesn’t think of ever striking the country again. “We need to make sure that we devastate Hamas so much, we hurt their infrastructure, we hurt their commanders that they will not think of ever striking Israel again,” the consul general of Israel to south India told ANI.
(With agency inputs)