Israeli shelling cuts power in Gaza
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ISRAEL escalated its military campaign against Hamas yesterday, striking symbols of the militant group’s control in Gaza and firing tank shells that Palestinian officials said shut down the strip’s only power plant in the heaviest bombardment in the conflict so far.
Hours after the power plant was hit, a tall column of thick black smoke still rose from the plant’s burning fuel tank. The station’s shutdown was bound to lead to further serious disruptions of the flow of electricity and water to the 1.7 million people packed into the narrow Palestinian territory.
The heavy strikes were a new blow to international efforts to reach a sustainable truce in the fighting, now in its fourth week.
At least 100 Palestinians were killed yesterday, including 26 who died in airstrikes and tank shelling on four homes, according to Palestinian health officials and the Palestinian Red Crescent. That pushed the overall death toll since the conflict began on July 8 to at least 1,156, according to Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra.
Israel has reported 53 soldiers and three civilians killed.
In the West Bank, a top PLO official offered a 24-hour truce, saying he also spoke in the name of Hamas, but the Islamic militants said they want to hear from Israel first. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev declined comment.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned of a “prolonged” campaign against Hamas.
But it was not clear if he has decided to expand the conflict into an all-out effort to topple Hamas or planned to limit Israel’s operation to the previously stated goal of ending Hamas rocket fire and destroying its sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels.
Already, the intensity and the scope of the current Gaza operation is on par with an invasion five years ago, which ended with a unilateral Israeli withdrawal after hitting Hamas hard.
Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of attacks yesterday, leveling the home of the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, and damaging the offices of the movement’s Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, a central mosque in Gaza City and government offices.
Haniyeh’s house, in a narrow alley of the Shati refugee camp, was reduced to rubble but no one was hurt. Residents placed a large framed portrait of Haniyeh atop the wreckage and draped it with green Hamas flags and Palestinian national banners.
Israel has targeted several homes of Hamas leaders but none has been killed. Haniyeh said in a statement that “destroying stones will not break our determination.”
The scene at the Gaza power plant after tank shells hit a fuel tank was daunting. “We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room,” said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza Energy Authority.
Even before the shutdown, Gaza residents only had electricity for about three hours a day because of damaged power lines.
Most of Gaza will now be without power, and the lack of electricity will also affect water supplies, since power is needed to operate water pumps.
An Israeli military spokesman said its latest strikes signal “a gradual increase in the pressure” on Hamas. Israel is “determined to strike this organization and relieve us of this threat,” he said.
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