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A TEAM OF Israeli negotiators have left for Doha for a fresh round of talks on the ceasefire in Gaza.
An Israeli official familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide any additional details.
It comes after the country cut off Gaza’s electricity supply, something the Palestinian foreign ministry has called “an escalation in the genocide” in the war-torn territory.
In a statement, it said it “strongly condemns the Israeli Ministry of Energy’s decision to cut electricity to the Gaza Strip, considering it an escalation in the genocide, displacement and humanitarian disaster in Gaza”, which is controlled by Hamas and not the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire ended on 1 March with no agreement on subsequent stages that could secure a permanent end to the war, but both sides have since refrained from resuming full-scale fighting.
There are still significant differences over the terms of a potential second phase of the truce, which has largely halted the violence that raged since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
Hamas has repeatedly called for immediate negotiations on the next phase, while Israel prefers an extension of the current one.
Israel has failed to allow the delivery of the agreed level of aid to Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, while also killing Palestinians and now halting aid deliveries altogether.
On Sunday, it announced it was cutting off the electricity supply in a bid to force Hamas to release hostages.
“We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after” the war, energy minister Eli Cohen said as he ordered the power cut.
The move echoed the early days of the war when Israel announced a “siege” on Gaza, severing the electricity supply which was only restored in mid-2024.
The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies the Palestinian territory’s main desalination plant, and Gazans now mainly rely on solar panels and fuel-powered generators to produce electricity.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now living in tents across Gaza, where temperatures reach a low of about 12 degrees Celsius at night.
Top Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said the Israeli decision “to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine, and water” was a “desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance”.
The British government has called on Israel to restore the power supply. “We’re deeply concerned by these reports and urge Israel to lift these restrictions,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s official spokesman told reporters.
“We’re clear that a halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, including basic needs such as electricity, risks breaching Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.”
A very worrying & concerning development.
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) March 9, 2025
The continued blocking of humanitarian aid & now plans to cut electricity can only add to the horrific humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Hostages must be released, aid must flow & electricity supply is vital for any civilian population https://t.co/mw6oE4ohVS
Tánaiste Simon Harris deemed the move “a very worrying & concerning development”.
“The continued blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans to cut electricity can only add to the horrific humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” he said in a statement on social media last night.
“Hostages must be released, aid must flow and electricity supply is vital for any civilian population.”
Hamas has repeatedly called for the second phase of the truce – brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States – to include a comprehensive hostage-prisoner exchange, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, and the reopening of border crossings to end the blockade.
Spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP that Hamas wanted the mediators to ensure Israel “complies with the agreement… and proceeds with the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms”.
Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving hostage release and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces left in Gaza.
Hamas representatives met mediators in Cairo over the weekend, a statement from the group said.
US envoy Adam Boehler, who held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas officials in recent days, said on Sunday that a deal could be reached “within weeks” to secure all remaining hostages.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the 7 October attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed dead.
Boehler told CNN there could be “a deal where they can get all of the prisoners out, not just the Americans”.
There are five Israeli-US nationals among the hostages, four of whom have been confirmed dead.
On CNN, the US envoy said a “long-term truce” was “real close”, while in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that aired later on Sunday, he said Washington would back any Israeli decision, including a return to war.
Late last month, US President Donald Trump issued what he called a “last warning” to Hamas, threatening further destruction if the group does not release all remaining hostages.
An earlier proposal from Trump to expel Palestinians from Gaza prompted Arab leaders to offer an alternative reconstruction plan without displacement.
The initial phase of the truce, which began on 19 January, reduced hostilities after more than 15 months of relentless fighting that displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
During this period, 25 living Israeli hostages and eight bodies were exchanged for the release of about 1,800 Palestinians in Israeli custody.
The truce also allowed in much-needed food, shelter and medical assistance.
After Israel cut off the aid flow on 2 March, UN rights experts accused the government of “weaponising starvation”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.
At a UN distribution of flour in Jabalia, northern Gaza, Abu Mahmoud Salman, 56, said that with the territory now closed off from fresh supplies, “there is nothing available”.
“The markets are empty… prices are high, and there is no income. The situation in Gaza is difficult,” he told AFP.
Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,458 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.
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