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Gaza’s Energy Problem: They Want To Keep Tortured Israeli Hostages More Than Helping Rebuild Their Society
Eli Sharabi reunites with his family after his release from Gazan captivity. Photo: IDF spokesperson’s unit
Israel’s Energy Minister, Eli Cohen, has announced the halt of Israel’s energy supply to Gaza. According to major Western media outlets — including The Guardian, BBC, ABC News, and others — this decision was supposed to lead to an apocalypse, if not immediately, then very soon.
Here’s what Reuters reported:
The Israeli government’s decision to cut the supply of electricity to Gaza, including to a crucial water treatment plant, has sparked fresh warnings of a dire health crisis in a population already in desperate need of food and medicine https://t.co/yd9HSgLo4l pic.twitter.com/J4oPUVeJcy
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 11, 2025
Then there’s CNN’s coverage:
“There is already water scarcity, and the position of the Israeli government will intensify this crisis in Gaza Strip,” the mayor of Gaza municipality Asem Al Nabih told CNN Monday. “Cutting off the electricity (to) Gaza will increase the need for water, especially drinking water.”
“The decision will still have a severe impact on desalination efforts in the enclave,” according to the mayor of the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, Nizar Ayyash. “In addition to our severed supply line, there will be a 70% reduction in the amount of desalinated water suitable for drinking in the central region and the south,” Ayyash explained.
Or this one in The Guardian:
Hamas accused Israel of “cheap and unacceptable blackmail” over its decision. “We strongly condemn the occupation’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine and water,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement, adding it was “a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics”.
Hamas’ concerns are understandable. After all, for years it’s been the terror group’s exclusive right to deprive Gazans of food, medicine and water.
For anyone with a basic understanding of the situation in Gaza, it’s clear that this depiction is a big stretch from the reality.
Israel cut most of its energy supply to Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attack. Since then, Gazans have primarily relied on private generators and solar panels. The minister’s latest decision mainly affects the Deir al-Balah desalination plant, which serves more than 600,000 Gaza residents through tankers or the water networks of the Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates. The plant was reconnected to Israel’s electricity grid in December 2024 — an event that attracted almost no media attention. Since then, it has produced approximately 16,000 cubic meters of water per day, according to UNICEF.
Simple arithmetic shows that, assuming that the plant works on full capacity, the halt in Deir al-Balah’s operations accounts for approximately 30% of the clean water supply for Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, while CNN and others used the information from Hamas-appointed officials to report a 70% reduction. Also, the media didn’t emphasize enough or failed to mention completely that this cut would affect only a part of Gaza’s population, equating to about an 8.6% reduction in the total clean water supply for all of Gaza.
Thus, while Eli Cohen’s decision does contribute to the existing water shortage, it is far from the catastrophic, total freeze of electricity that media reports suggest.
How Has Western Media Turned This Into an Imminent Apocalypse?
The answer: unprofessional journalism that fails to exercise basic due diligence. Instead of relying on publicly available data, these reports take at face value the statements of Hamas-appointed officials.
Behind the seemingly neutral titles of “the mayor of the central Gaza city” or “municipality spokesperson” are individuals directly appointed by Hamas. Gaza has been under totalitarian Hamas rule for years, making it virtually impossible for officials not to toe the party line. Asem Al Nabih was appointed by Hamas in 2019, and Nizar Ayyash was appointed in 2024.
Eli Cohen’s decision may well be aimed at his domestic political constituency. However, the Western media are far too eager to frame Israel as committing crimes against humanity, war crimes, and sheer immorality — portraying this decision as if Israel had abruptly stripped all Gazans of electricity overnight.
Meanwhile, consider recent Turkish airstrikes in November 2024 in drought-struck northeast Syria. These strikes cut off access to electricity and water for more than a million people, mostly Kurds. A year earlier, attacks on electricity infrastructure in October 2023 shut down the region’s main water station, Alouk, and it has not been operational since. There is an ongoing conflict between Turks and Kurds, yet Turkey has not suffered an attack from the Kurds equivalent to Hamas’ October 7 massacre.
Despite this, no prolonged international outrage comparable to the case of Gaza followed, no humanitarian organizations launched urgent campaigns, and the International Criminal Court did not issue an arrest warrant for Turkey’s President Erdoğan. BBC, for example, merely noted that “experts say it may be a violation of international law.”
A Media Blind Spot
Returning to Gaza, even international aid organizations estimate that Hamas has enough fuel to run generators for approximately 45 more days. This estimate, however, should be taken with extreme caution, given these organizations’ repeated failures to provide reliable data on famine, their lack of serious efforts to assist Israeli hostages, and their documented links to Hamas.
But even if we assume their numbers are accurate, the real question remains: What would a humane government that genuinely cares about civilians do to avoid the dire consequences of running out of energy in 45 days? And what about the civilians themselves — those who truly care about their lives and the lives of their children?
There is only one answer: They would release the innocent hostages who have now been held for over 500 days. Now think about a government that prioritizes holding 24 live hostages and 35 bodies over providing its own population with food and clean water.
Paraphrasing Golda Meir: The core problem is not that Israel does not care enough about civilians in Gaza. It is that people in Israel care so much about their civilians, they’re ready to release thousands of murderers. In stark contrast, Hamas and its supporters, who constitute a significant part of their population, care much more about destroying Israel than about the wellbeing of their civilians — including children.
And that is how trustworthy media should present it.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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