Israel Reduces Power Supply in Move to 'disengage' From Gaza

Israel started cutting the amount of electricity it supplies to Gaza yesterday as part of a new economic campaign targeting Hamas that has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups.

Power on one of 10 lines into the Palestinian territory was cut to hit back at militants firing rockets into Israel. Although the reduction amounts to less than 1% of the 124 megawatts that Israel sells to Gaza, further cuts are due in the weeks ahead as Israel seeks to "disengage" from Gaza.

There was little immediate sign it would halt the escalating conflict. Militants yesterday fired at least 20 makeshift rockets into Israel, damaging a factory.

The decision to cut electricity has been backed by Israel's high court, which this month turned down a challenge by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups. Human Rights Watch said: "The cuts are seriously affecting civilians who have nothing to do with these armed groups and that violates a fundamental principle of the laws of war."

A US state department spokesman, Tom Casey, said: "We understand Israel's right to defend itself, but we do not think that actions should be taken that would infringe upon or worsen the humanitarian situation for the civilian population in Gaza."

Last month Israel halted fuel supplies into Gaza for several days and the strip's sole power plant shut down, leaving most of Gaza City, home to about 500,000 Palestinians, in darkness. It also badly affected sewage and water treatment plants.

Israeli officials have defended their actions. The infrastructure minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, said Hamas was "pushing us to take over the strip" but that he preferred using "economic measures".

Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the policy complied "unequivocally" with international law. "It's not that we think there is a quick magical solution but we believe that a combination of military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Hamas is a strategy that in the medium and longer term will in fact bring about a change in policy and protect our people," he said. "This is a hostile regime and a hostile entity. They have declared war on us and we are defending ourselves."

Five Hamas militants and a member of Islamic Jihad, as well as a civilian teacher, were killed on Thursday by Israeli military strikes in Gaza. Eight other Hamas members were killed in Gaza on Tuesday, a day after a suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Dimona, which killed one person and wounded 11, was claimed by Hamas.

Hamas appears to be stepping up its military operations. The suicide bombing was its first inside Israel in more than three years. In recent weeks Hamas has also begun to publicly claim responsibility for the firing of rockets from Gaza - the first time it has done so in several months.

Gaza buys most electricity directly from Israel, about 124 megawatts supplied on 10 high-power lines. Seventeen megawatts come from Egypt and the strip's one power plant supplies 45-65 megawatts, depending on the fuel available. The plant was built to produce 140 megawatts but has never achieved that level, and has not come close since Israeli jets bombed the plant's six transformers in mid 2006.