Israel connects Gaza desalination plant to its power grid to restart operations

The Army argues that it is part of an attempt to prevent the spread of diseases in response to international requests

Israeli authorities began work on Tuesday to connect a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip to their electricity grid, according to the army and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military authority in charge of the Palestinian territories, the first such action after nearly nine months of offensive and siege against the enclave.

The Army has pointed out that “the eyes of the world, and certainly those of the United States, were focused on the question of how to manage the civilian and humanitarian aspects of the operation in Rafah” and has explained that the objective is to make the plant operational to “provide drinking water” to the area.

“This water is intended for hygiene and disease prevention, which could endanger our soldiers and hostages,” he said, adding that the work has been approved by the authorities, according to the Arutz Sheva television channel.

Gaza residents told the Palestinian news agency WAFA that the Gaza Electricity Company has begun work in the Saladin Road area, west of the city of Deir al-Bala (center), to restart the desalination plant.

For his part, Israel’s Finance Minister, ultra-nationalist Bezalel Smotrich, has stressed that the authorities “have completely lost their minds.” “We are rehabilitating Gaza with our own hands, before disarmament, and mainly the hospitals, centers of terrorism,” he argued.

He has thus called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop this stupidity.” “This time it will not be possible to say that we did not know, as with the release of the terrorist commander of Al Shifa,” he said on his account on the social network X, in reference to the release of the director of the Al Shifa Hospital, Mohamed Abu Salmiya, released on Monday after more than seven months in detention.

The Gaza Strip is in the midst of a serious humanitarian crisis following the military offensive unleashed by Israel against the enclave after the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and other Palestinian factions, which left some 1,200 dead and nearly 240 kidnapped.

Following the attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “total siege” of Gaza and promised that there would be “no electricity, water or gas” for the population, which led to charges against him and the rest of the government for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the context of the offensive.

Indeed, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has called for arrest warrants to be issued against Netanyahu, Gallant and the top leaders of the political and military wings of Hamas, something harshly criticized by Israel and its main ally, the United States.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza authorities have so far reported more than 37,900 deaths, in addition to more than 550 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in operations by Israeli forces or in attacks by settlers.