Israel ordered its state-run electricity company to halt supply to the Gaza Strip on Saturday after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, the energy minister said.
“I have signed an order instructing (Israel) Electric Company to stop the electricity supply to Gaza,” Energy Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
At least 150 Israelis have been killed in the attacks launched by the Palestinian movement Hamas.
Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate.
The second half of your comment refutes the first
what? how so? Are you saying you do expect them to help Hamas kill Israeli civilians? Is “not being allowed to kill Israeli civilians” a form of punishment, to you?
By all accounts the attacks are over, what’s left are reprisals
I heard Israel declared war. It would be odd to deliver electricity to your enemy. Other campaigns target power plants. Short of expecting Israel to bomb their own plants, I would expect them to simply cut power if they can. Not saying they should, just pointing out it’s a common thing in war.
oh, for how many hours have the attacks been over? How many of the hostages were returned safely?
Israel has said it has fought off a majority of the militants—not that it as fought them all off.
there is no reason to think the attacks are over. There’s no reason to think they won’t come back with more rockets in an hour or two, let alone tomorrow.
there certainly wasn’t any reason to think attacks were over back when Israel made the call to cut power.
are the attacks over now?
please, remind me, are the attacks over yet?
no water, that’s not a reprisal? medical care compromised by no power, if you’re into reprisals I think you should say it, but until now you’ve been entirely dishonest about it
so are you still standing by your claim that the attacks are over? should I continue to cite attacks as they happen? or are you going to admit that the attacks are ongoing?
Medical care is compromised by the lack of power. The reason Israel cut off power was not to compromise medical care. The reason Israel cut off power was a military strategy to impede production and firing of rockets. I already pointed that out, but you’ve been entirely dishonest about it. You’ll ignore the point again in your next comment, won’t you?
You linked to a live thread, not to a source specific to water. I managed to find one bullet point on that page about a siege that covers water. I don’t think siege warfare is generally viewed as a form of reprisal. From what I understand, starvation is generally illegal under most treaties, but requires a “high degree of deprivation.”. From what I understand, Gaza is near water, and has access to food and water both internally, via Egypt, via its sea border, etc., etc. So… meh. We’ll see if it actually plays out as a starvation tactic, versus a tactic to shut down supply to enemy combatants and rocket manufacturing.