The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) warns of the imminent collapse of the remaining vital facilities operating in the Gaza Strip, particularly the healthcare services as well as water and sanitation infrastructure. This comes amid the systematic destruction of the essential infrastructure, including the energy and electricity sectors, and the tightening of the siege on the Strip. PCHR emphasizes that the ongoing electricity blackout for more than 20 months and continued ban on the entry of fuel supplies necessary for the operation of these sectors reflects a deliberate Israeli policy intended to dismantle the foundations of collective life, impose the highest levels of subjugation and devastation, and strip Palestinians of the remaining essentials for their survival. All of this comes as part of the broader crime of genocide being perpetrated across the whole Gaza strip.
PCHR confirms that the humanitarian conditions endured by the Palestinians have reached critical levels as the Israeli policies continue to forcibly push the population toward total collapse. The ongoing genocide has gone beyond forced displacement to include the widespread and brutal destruction of entire cities, residential neighborhoods and vital infrastructure, a strangulating siege and deliberate starvation.
According to PCHR’s follow-up, the electricity and energy sector has been a primary target of the Israeli aggression as the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have deliberately used the electricity blackout and deprivation of access to energy by as a weapon within their broader genocidal campaign against the two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. By this, IOF intend to further strangle Gaza and increase the suffering of its population within a brutal and unlawful collective punishment policy. From the first day of war, the Israeli authorities halted electricity supply to Gaza via main power lines and cut off around 10 high-voltage lines that previously supplied the Strip with 120 megawatts. Moreover, they banned the entry of industrial diesel necessary to operate Gaza’s sole power plant. These actions came following the Israeli Defense Minister’s announcement of a total siege on Gaza, including the denial of food, medicine and fuel. This has led to the shutdown of the power plant and a full electricity blackout across the Gaza Strip.
In continuation of this policy, IOF have launched targeted and intensified attacks aimed at destroying the electricity and energy infrastructure. These attacks have inflicted widescale devastation and massive losses without any justification. According to initial estimates from the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO), Israel has deliberately destroyed most of the Gaza’s electricity infrastructure over the course of more than 600 days of continuous aggression. GEDCO affirms that 90% of the electricity sector’s components have been destroyed, including 3780 kilometers of electrical networks and cables across the Gaza Strip, 2105 electricity distribution transformers and the total or partial destruction of over 70% of the company’s buildings and headquarters. Additionally, 90% of the sector’s warehouses, maintenance workshops, and heavy machinery have been destroyed. These attacks have resulted in estimated losses of over 450 million USD to the electricity sector alone.1
This massive devastation has come within the context of prolonged suffering as the Gaza strip has endured a chronic electricity crisis for 18 years. This crisis has been driven by the targeting of the power plant and destruction of transformers compounded by the Israeli-imposed closure and severe restrictions on the entry of fuel required to operate this plant. Over the years of the closure, the average electricity supply ranged between 6 to 8 hours daily with blackouts lasting 16 to 18 hours. This persistent shortage was directly linked to the limited electricity supply to Gaza which—at its peak—did not exceed 180 megawatts daily. This amount meets only one-third of the population’s actual needs, estimated at approximately 600 megawatts. Through its direct lines, Israel supplied Gaza with 120 megawatts while Gaza’s power plant, when operational and supplied with sufficient diesel, could generate an additional 60 megawatts.
While families in Gaza have resorted to alternative energy sources to meet their bare minimum daily needs, through daily going to solar-powered charging points to charge cell phones, batteries, electronic devices, pump water, and provide minimal lighting, these alternatives have become themselves targets of the Israeli attacks. Israel deliberately targets the solar energy systems across Gaza installed on the roofs of residential buildings, schools, healthcare facilities and shelters. According to statements by UNOSAT, more than 1,695 solar panels have been destroyed2 during the ongoing aggression. These attacks reflect a systematic and deliberate policy by Israel to drown Gaza in darkness and deprive its population of any source of energy, aimed at deepening their humanitarian crisis day after day.
The repercussions of this systematic destruction have had catastrophic impacts on all aspects of life. The chronic power outages have severely disrupted the core functions of vital sectors, which are now on the brink of complete collapse, such as healthcare, relief, municipal, telecommunications, and education. Fuel shortages and the lack of stable local energy sources have left these facilities operating at extremely limited capacity, which is insufficient to meet even the most basic needs.
In this context, the healthcare sector is among the most fragile and severely affected. The power outages have significantly reduced the medical services provided by hospitals and disrupted critical departments such as Intensive Care Units (ICUs), operating rooms, Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), dialysis units, and refrigeration systems for medicines and vaccines. This endangers the lives of tens of thousands of patients and injured people.
The catastrophic impacts have also extended to the water and sanitation sector. Desalination and wastewater treatment plants have ceased operations, and water wells have stopped functioning, forcing residents to rely on contaminated water sources due to the severe shortage of clean drinking water. The per capita water supply has sharply decreased to 3-12 liters per day, which is still below the minimum internationally recommended standards. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that individuals need up to 100 liters per day. Gaza’s deprivation of electricity has further exacerbated the sewage crisis, leading to the discharge of untreated wastewater into the sea, residential areas, and shelters. This has significantly increased pollution levels and the spread of waterborne diseases and epidemics, particularly in an environment where hygiene and preventive systems have collapsed.
Following extensive efforts by UNICEF and the European Union (EU), a single power line was partially reconnected in mid-November 2024 to the desalination plant run by the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility and the wastewater treatment plant in central Gaza Strip. However, on 9 March 2025, the Israeli authorities cut off electricity supplies to the line again, resulting in the shutdown of both plants and depriving more than 600,000 Palestinians of access to clean water.3
Moreover, telecommunications and internet services have been severely affected, particularly when communication is essential during emergencies. The availability of internet and mobile networks has significantly declined. Electricity shortages have also disrupted educational activities carried out by institutions in the Gaza Strip, depriving hundreds of thousands of students of their right to continue remote learning initiatives launched by UNRWA and the Palestinian Ministry of Education (MOE). This comes amid the widespread destruction of school and academic facilities during the genocide, and the closure of those that remain, as they have been used as shelters for displaced families across the Gaza Strip.
Amid the IOF’s continued closure of Gaza’s crossings since 02 March 2025 and prevention OF the entry of humanitarian aid, including fuel essential for operating vital and public service facilities, municipalities in Gaza4, Khan Yunis5, and Central Gaza Strip6 have recently announced a complete suspension of all services due to fuel depletion. They warned of imminent public health and environmental disaster, including the spread of serious epidemics and diseases, due to accumulated waste, the suspension of water pumping generators, and the overflow of untreated sewage into streets, residential areas, and shelters.
While these facilities face an imminent risk of collapse, international organizations are providing extremely limited amounts of fuel, allowing them to operate at the bare minimum capacity and temporarily delaying their complete shutdown. This is happening despite Israeli restrictions on fuel entry, the escalation of military operations, and the deliberate and ongoing targeting of healthcare facilities and other vital infrastructure.
PCHR affirms that Israel’s continued denial of access to electricity constitutes a form of collective punishment, which is explicitly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and is part of a broader Israeli policy aimed at destroying the population, depriving them of the means of survival, and forcibly displacing them by rendering living conditions uninhabitable and precipitating the collapse of all vital sectors. The consequences of this policy clearly embody the elements of the crime of genocide as defined in the Genocide Convention, particularly through subjecting the population to living conditions intended to destroy them in whole or in part, and inflicting serious physical and mental harm; thus, confirming the criminal nature of these acts.
PCHR emphasizes that these practices constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law, as the Israeli authorities are failing to uphold their obligations as an occupying power. They are legally bound to ensure the survival of civilians, protect their means of subsistence, and provide for their basic needs, as stipulated in Article 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention—obligations that cannot be fulfilled without a continuous supply of electricity. Furthermore, according to Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, the deliberate targeting and destruction of civilian objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as electricity infrastructure, when not justified by military necessity, constitutes a prohibited act. Under the Rome Statute, such actions are considered war crimes and are subject to accountability.
In light of this catastrophic reality, PCHR reiterates its strong condemnation of the IOF’s continued denial of the Gaza Strip population’s right to access electricity. PCHR affirms that the assault on the energy sector constitutes a full-fledged crime under international law and calls for holding Israeli officials accountable before the International Criminal Court (ICC). PCHR also warns of the ongoing deterioration of humanitarian, health, and environmental conditions in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR calls on the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their legal obligations and take immediate action to halt the grave violations committed by Israel and to impose an end to the ongoing brutal aggression against Palestinians. PCHR also urges the States Parties to the ICC to expand the scope of the UN investigations into Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip, end the policy of impunity, and ensure accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes. This is especially relevant given that the ICC has previously issued arrest warrants against several Israeli leaders as part of ongoing investigations into war crimes and acts of genocide committed in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR also calls on the international community, including humanitarian organizations, foremost the United Nations, to urgently act and exert pressure to immediately restore the electricity lines in Gaza that were disconnected by the Israeli authorities, and to ensure the resumption of fuel supply needed to operate the power plant and vital service facilities. PCHR stresses the need to open a safe corridor for the entry of materials and equipment required to rehabilitate the destroyed energy infrastructure, including generators, transformers, cables, poles, heavy machinery, and vehicles. It also calls for the provision of urgent support to enable specialized teams to begin maintenance and operation of the electricity network in the Gaza Strip.
