UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese denounced the Israeli move as a “genocide alert”, saying that without electricity, there are “functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water.”
Gaza’s municipal authorities have warned of health and environmental disasters due to Israel’s continued cut of electricity and water supplies to the enclave.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Union of Gaza Municipalities said the power cut by Israel has caused the main water desalination plant to cease operations, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Israel has cut off electricity to Gaza’s last functional desalination plant, forcing the plant—which served 500K people—to come to a halt. pic.twitter.com/7xvr0nfnU3
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) March 11, 2025
“These punitive policies against Palestinians in Gaza are a violation of international law and exacerbate the suffering of the population, who are facing the worst humanitarian crisis in history,” the statement added.
Israel cut off the electricity supply to Gaza on Sunday, tightening a stifling blockade on the enclave despite the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal.
Human Rights Watch has denounced the move, saying it “amounts to collective punishment of civilians, a war crime, and is part of Israeli authorities’ crime against humanity of extermination and acts of genocide.”
‘Genocide Alert’
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese denounced the Israeli move as a “genocide alert”, saying that without electricity, there are “functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water.”
“STILL NO SANCTION/NO ARMS EMBARGO against Israel means, among others, AIDING AND ASSISTING Israel in the commission of one of the most preventable genocides of our history,” Albanese added in a post on X.
❌GENOCIDE ALERT!❌Israel cutting off electricity supplies to Gaza means, among others, no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water.
STILL NO SANCTION/NO ARMS EMBARGO against Israel means, among others, AIDING AND ASSISTING Israel in the commission of one of the… https://t.co/x2cX4MuP0K— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) March 9, 2025
The move by Israel followed another Israeli decision to block all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
Gaza’s Municipalities union appealed to the international community and humanitarian organizations to “immediately intervene to secure essential supplies and guarantee the entry of essential materials…to avoid further health and environmental disasters.”
On Tuesday, Mohammad Thabet, a spokesman of the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company, said that Israel provided the enclave with only five megawatts of electricity since last November before its decision to cut off power to the enclave.
Critical Water Shortages
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that severe water shortages in the Gaza Strip have reached critical levels, with only one in ten Palestinians currently able to access safe drinking water.
Breaking:
UNICEF| The water crisis in Gaza has reached critical levels, with only 1 in 10 people having access to clean drinking water.Israel has cut off the electricity line supplying the only water station in Gaza & has blocked the entry of fuel.pic.twitter.com/EiOlEXZ1iX
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) March 11, 2025
According to Rosalia Bollen, a UNICEF official in Gaza, 600,000 people who had regained access since November 2024 have once again been cut off.
“It’s really vital for thousands of families and children to restore this connection,” Bollen said.
UNICEF: 90% of Gaza’s Population Lacks Water amid New Israeli Blockades
UN agencies estimate that 1.8 million people – over half of them children – urgently need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance, according to a UN News report.
‘Similar to October 2023’
UNRWA has also warned that the situation was “similar to the one which prevailed in October 2023.”
Israel’s decision to ban the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies into Gaza almost ten days ago “threatens the lives and survival of civilians in Gaza, who have had only a brief respite from 16 months of brutal war,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, at a press briefing on Monday.
.@Hind_Gaza reports from the only remaining operating desalination plant in Gaza, which was providing clean drinking water to 500,000 people.
Israel has now cut the electricity supply to the plant, reducing the amount of water it can produce by almost 90% pic.twitter.com/oXB80IrAaZ
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) March 10, 2025
“It is critical that humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza again, to maintain the progress made during the first phase of the ceasefire and meet people’s basic needs,” he stated.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which took effect on January 19, ended on Saturday, after which Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu announced that “the entry of all goods and supplies to the Gaza Strip will be halted.”
‘Collective Punishment’
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also strongly condemned “the Israeli-imposed siege” on Gaza which it said was depriving people of basic services and critical supplies, including access to water by cutting electricity.
“Israeli authorities have instrumentalised humanitarian needs by using it as a bargaining chip, such as cutting the electricity supply to the Strip on 9 March and preventing all aid from entering,” MSF said in a statement.
“This policy, which amounts to collective punishment, must be immediately stopped. MSF calls on Israeli authorities to respect international humanitarian law and uphold its responsibilities as an occupying power, and to end this inhumane blockade of the Strip,” the organization added.
The ceasefire brought to a halt Israel’s genocidal assault on the enclave that has killed more than 48,500 Palestinians and left the Strip in ruins.
(PC, Anadolu)
