Israel's power cuts 'war crimes'

ISRAEL:Israel's fuel and power cuts to Gaza amount to collective punishment and violate international law, Human Rights Watch reported yesterday. Israel says the cuts are meant to pressure Palestinian militants to end rocket strikes on southern Israel.

While these attacks constitute "war crimes", the organisation argued that Israel's cuts are having a "grave impact on Gaza's hospitals, water-pumping stations, sewage-treatment facilities and other infrastructure essential for the wellbeing of Gaza's population."

Under Article 33 of the fourth Geneva convention, collective punishments are prohibited "in all forms of conflict".

Over the next three weeks, Israel plans to reduce electricity supplies to Gaza by 1.5mw. This comes on top of measures Israel has taken since 2006 which have caused a 20 per cent shortfall in the supply to the Strip's 1.5 million citizens who require 240mw of current during winter months.

Israel normally sold Gaza 120mw a day, Gaza's power plant provided 100mw and Egypt 17-20mw. However, the capacity of Gaza's plant was reduced to 80mw by Israeli bombs and then to 55mw when Israel reduced the flow of fuel paid for by the EU.

Gaza now suffers from a 48mw deficit which causes "rolling blackouts of up to eight hours a day in most areas ... During power outages, hospitals and health clinics rely on generators that require regular diesel fuel" imports and spare parts, but these have been restricted in recent months, limiting the use of generators and closing down all but emergency and intensive-care units in some hospitals.

Human Rights Watch said 84,000 needy Gazans had not received rations, 50 per cent of Gaza households had access to running water for only four to six hours a day, and 40 million litres of sewage were now dumped daily into the Mediterranean.

EU special envoy Marc Otte warned that Israel's policies in Gaza could transform the Strip into another Somalia. "Israel's tactics in the Gaza Strip did not work. The blockade and the sanctions against the population failed, and only strengthened Hamas and weakened" the Palestinian Authority, which is supported by the US, EU, UN and Russia.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops backed by tanks, helicopter gunships and warplanes killed six Palestinian gunmen and a schoolteacher in a raid in Gaza yesterday, militant groups and hospital officials said.