The Islamist Hamas organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, announced that the Israeli decision to concede to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ request to reduce the power supply in the Palestinian enclave by 35 percent, could lead to a violent flare-up. Even though the decision to reduce the electricity was not an Israeli initiative, but was rather made following a decision by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to stop paying for the electricity supply to the Gaza Strip; Hamas officials described the decision as “dangerous and disastrous” and threatened that it would “lead to an accelerated deterioration, and a blowup of the situation in the Gaza Strip;” while rather than blaming the Palestinian Authority for the situation, the Islamist organization accused the Jewish state of bearing full responsibility.
“I think it’s the first time that there is awareness among Gaza’s population that the recent crisis has no connection with Israel. It is connected to a conflict between Fatah and Hamas, it’s connected to a conflict between Abu Mazen and Yahya Sinwar.” / “It is the first time that there is real awareness that Hamas simply robs money, steals money from Gaza residents and instead of investing in the residents, it invests it in tunnels,” said Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Defense Minister.
Israeli officials responded to the threats coming from Gaza, however, by voicing reassurance that the decision to reduce the electricity supply to the Palestinian enclave by an hour “will not cause the sky to fall on Gaza,” and was necessary, given the circumstances. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that even though Hamas tries to lay the blame on Israel for its failed governance of the enclave, the residents of the strip are well aware of the situation, in which the ongoing rivalry between Fatah and Hamas was the core of the current crisis.
“This decision is a dangerous decision and its consequences are dangerous for the lives of two million Palestinians living in Gaza. It will affect all aspects of life, the humanitarian, social and the environment and the health aspects. The situation in Gaza is very hard. This unfair decision by the Knesset, which is subject to international laws, will worsen the situation in Gaza quickly, on all fronts. Responsible for this serious deterioration in the situation in the Gaza Strip is the occupation government that is sieging the Gaza Strip for more than 10 years,” said Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas Spokesperson.
The reduction of the electricity-supply to the Gaza Strip practically means that instead of the current situation, in which the Hamas-run enclave only receives four hours of electricity a day, they will soon have to make-do, with just three hours. The decision comes as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas demanded of the Islamist Hamas to hand over responsibility to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and its government of national reconciliation, in a bid to unify all Palestinians under one leadership – a demand vehemently rejected by the internationally recognized terror group, as Hamas continues to cling onto its strip of land, with an aspiration of expending its control to the West Bank.
“We at the government of national reconciliation, renew our call to the Hamas movement, the authority there, to hand over to us all the government institutions in Gaza so the government can provide its best, which aligns with our families and people and their sacrifices in our beloved Strip,” said Tareq Rashmawi, Palestinian Authority Spokesperson.
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas’s Fatah movement in 2007, and several attempts at reconciliation, most recently in 2014, have failed. Hamas has since then accused President Abbas of trying to turn the screw on them to make political concessions.