Israel cut off its electricity supply to Gaza on 2025-03-09, affecting a desalination plant that provides drinking water in the territory and adding another layer of pressure in stalled ceasefire negotiations.
The packet says the order came from Israel’s energy minister to the Israel Electric Corporation. Hamas called the move part of Israel’s starvation policy. Israel had already suspended supplies of goods to Gaza a week earlier and was pressing Hamas to accept an extension of the ceasefire’s first phase.
That first phase had expired at the end of the previous week. Israel wanted Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in exchange for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wanted to move to the ceasefire’s second phase, which would include the release of the remaining hostages, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a longer-term settlement.
The desalination plant in question had been producing 18,000 cubic meters of water a day for central Gaza, according to Gisha. Once forced onto generators, its output was expected to fall sharply. The packet also notes that fuel restrictions have already made water distribution harder across Gaza, where most facilities now rely on generators because infrastructure has been devastated.
The broader humanitarian dimension is severe. The U.N. human rights office warned that denying civilians the necessities of life may amount to collective punishment, while the ICC has previously said there was reason to believe starvation had been used as a method of warfare.
This article should stay close to the evidence: electricity was cut, water production at one plant was reduced, and the move intensified an already tense negotiation over hostages, aid and the future of the ceasefire. The packet supports those facts clearly enough to report them without embellishment.
The electricity cut also matters because it affects the infrastructure of survival rather than only political bargaining. Water output from the desalination plant fell sharply once the facility had to rely on generators, and in Gaza the energy, fuel and water systems are already deeply intertwined. A power cut therefore becomes a public-health issue almost immediately.
At the negotiating table, the move was part of a wider attempt to force Hamas to accept Israel’s preferred sequence for the ceasefire. Hamas wanted to move straight into the harder second phase, while Israel wanted hostage releases before larger political and military concessions. The packet shows that the power cut was not an isolated utility decision; it was another lever in a war fought through pressure on civilians and on the terms of a truce.
