JERUSALEM: Israel said Tuesday it has connected a water desalination plant in southern Gaza to its electrical grid, in an easing of its siege of the Palestinian territory, but is not yet supplying power.
The Israeli military agency responsible for civilian operations in the Palestinian territories said it could take up to two weeks to start supplying electricity to the desalination plant in Khan Yunis, which is suffering from critical water shortages.
“A new power line from Israel has been directly connected to a water desalination plant managed by UNICEF in Khan Yunis,” said a statement from the Israeli army and the COGAT agency, referring to the United Nations children’s fund.
A source at Gaza’s Electricity Distribution Corporation said the beleaguered utility was “preparing for the possibility of them (Israel) operating the line.”
Col. Elad Goren of COGAT told a press briefing that Israel would provide electricity “once they will fix the lines from the Gazan side... in a week or two.”
He said the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority would pay for the electricity, as it did before the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7.
Israel has faced international criticism over the impact of its military assault against Hamas on Gaza’s civilian population.
Goren said infrastructure decisions were made at a political level, and that the return of the power line was based on the need to increase the desalination plant’s capacity.
UNICEF has welcomed an agreement with Israel to begin supplying the Khan Yunis plant again.
“This is an important milestone, and we are very much looking forward to seeing it implemented,” UNICEF spokesman in the Palestinian territories, Jonathan Crickx, told AFP.
Water has been scarce for Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants since the war erupted with the Hamas attacks on Israel. Sixty percent of the territory’s water distribution systems have been damaged, Crickx said.
After the Hamas attack, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced “a complete siege” on Gaza with “no electricity, no water, no gas.” Aid groups say Gaza is now gripped by a humanitarian crisis.
“Currently, the plant is only producing 5,000 cubic meters of water a day. With the new power line from Israel, the plant will ramp up production to 20,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day,” the Israeli statement said.
Israel says Gaza desalination plant connected to its electrical grid
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Israel says Gaza desalination plant connected to its electrical grid
- “A new power line from Israel has been directly connected to a water desalination plant managed by UNICEF in Khan Yunis,” said a statement from the Israeli army
- A source at Gaza’s Electricity Distribution Corporation said the beleaguered utility was “preparing for the possibility of them (Israel) operating the line“
UN-sanctioned migrant smuggler killed in western Libya
- Libyan authorities report that a notorious militia leader, Ahmed Oumar Al-Fitouri Al-Dabbashi, was killed in a raid by security forces on Friday
- In 2018, the UN and US sanctioned him for controlling migrant departure areas and exposing migrants to fatal conditions
CAIRO: A notorious militia leader in Libya, sanctioned by the UN for migrant trafficking across the Mediterranean Sea, was killed on Friday in a raid by security forces in the west of the country, according to Libyan authorities.
Ahmed Oumar Al-Fitouri Al-Dabbashi, nicknamed Ammu, was killed in the western city of Sabratha when security forces raided his hideout. The raid came in response to an attack on a security outpost by Al-Dabbashi’s militia, which left six members of the security forces severely wounded, according to a statement issued by the Security Threat Enforcement Agency, a security entity affiliated with Libya’s western government.
Al-Dabbashi, who was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for trafficking, was the leader of a powerful militia, the “Brigade of the Martyr Anas Al-Dabbashi,” in Sabratha, the biggest launching point in Libya for Europe-bound African migrants.
Al-Dabbashi’s brother Saleh Al-Dabbashi, another alleged trafficker, was arrested in the same raid, added the statement.
In June 2018, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Al-Dabbashi, along with another five Libyan traffickers. At the time, the UN report said that there was enough evidence that Al-Dabbashi’s militia controlled departure areas for migrants, camps, safe houses and boats.
Al-Dabbashi himself exposed migrants, including children, to “fatal circumstances” on land and at sea, and of threatening peace and stability in Libya and neighboring countries, according to the same report.
Al-Dabbashi was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for the same reason.
Libya has been a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The country was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The country has been fragmented for years between rival administrations based in the east and the west of Libya, each backed by various armed militias and foreign governments.
