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JERUSALEM: Israel’s negotiating team left for Qatar Monday for talks aimed at extending the fragile Gaza ceasefire, after Israel cut the Palestinian territory’s electricity supply to ramp up pressure on Hamas.
Ahead of the negotiations, Israel disconnected the only power line to a water desalination plant in Gaza, a move Hamas denounced as “cheap and unacceptable blackmail.”
The first phase of the truce deal expired on March 1 with no agreement on subsequent stages that should secure a lasting end to the war that erupted with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
There are differences over how to proceed — Hamas wants immediate negotiations on the next phase, but Israel prefers extending phase one.
Hamas accused Israel of reneging on the ceasefire deal, saying in a statement Monday Israel “refuses to commence the second phase, exposing its intentions of evasion and stalling.”
An Israeli official familiar with the negotiations told AFP the country’s team had left for Doha. Media reports said the delegation was led by a top official from the domestic security agency Shin Bet.
Israel has halted aid deliveries to Gaza amid the deadlock, and said Sunday it was cutting the electricity supply.
“We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after” the war, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said.
The move echoed the early days of the war when Israel announced a “complete siege” on the Palestinian territory, severing the electricity supply which was only restored in mid-2024.
Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanoua said Israel’s move will impact its hostages still held in Gaza.
“The decision to cut electricity is a failed option and poses a threat to its (Israeli) prisoners, who will only be freed through negotiations,” Qanoua said in a statement on Monday.
Germany and Britain both criticized Israel over its latest decisions.
Germany foreign ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said Gaza was “again threatened with a food shortage” and that cutting off electricity was “unacceptable and not compatible with (Israel’s) obligations under international law.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s official spokesman told reporters: “We’re deeply concerned by these reports and urge Israel to lift these restrictions.”
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority also slammed Israel, calling the move an “escalation in the genocide” in Gaza.
The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies its main desalination plant, and Gazans now mainly rely on solar panels and fuel-powered generators to produce electricity.
Hundreds of thousands now live in tents across Gaza, where temperatures currently reach a night-time low of about 12 degrees Celsius (54 Fahrenheit).
Top Hamas official Izzat Al-Rishq called Israel’s decision “to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine, and water” a “desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance.”
Gaza residents told AFP the electricity cut will only worsen their situation.
“The decision to cut off electricity is proof of a war of extermination,” Dina Al-Sayigh said from Gaza City.
“The occupation never stops killing Palestinian civilians, whether by bombing, missiles or by starvation.”
Hamas has repeatedly demanded that the second phase of the truce — brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States — include a comprehensive hostage-prisoner exchange, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire and the reopening of border crossings to end the blockade.
Spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP Hamas wanted the mediators to ensure Israel “complies with the agreement... and proceeds with the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms.”
Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving hostage releases and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.
US envoy Adam Boehler, who has held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, told CNN Sunday a deal could be reached “within weeks” to secure the release of all remaining hostages, not just the five dual US-Israelis, most of whom have been confirmed dead.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the October 7 attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed dead.
Boehler told CNN a “long-term truce” was “real close,” but later Sunday he told Israel’s Channel 12 that Washington would back any Israeli decision, including a return to war.
In late February, US President Donald Trump issued what he called a “last warning” to Hamas, threatening further destruction if it does not release all remaining hostages.
The initial 42-day phase of the truce, which began on January 19, reduced hostilities after more than 15 months of relentless fighting that displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
During phase one, 25 living Israeli hostages and eight bodies were exchanged for about 1,800 Palestinians in Israeli custody.
The truce also allowed in much-needed food, shelter and medical assistance.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,467 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.