Israeli electrical workers threaten to abandon damaged Gaza power lines until Hamas returns Israeli soldiers

Unionised workers at the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) have announced that they will not fix electricity lines to Gaza until a number of Israelis held by Hamas are returned, according to reports by The Jerusalem Post.

In its announcement on Thursday, the IEC workers said that damage caused to the electrical network by recent Israeli bombardments would not be repaired until the remains of two soldiers and one civilian being held hostage was returned. 

“As a sign of solidarity and support for the struggle for the return of the boys, we do not intend to repair and return the power lines to Gaza that were damaged as a result of Hamas firing, until Hadar Goldin, Oron Shaul and Avera Mengistu are returned to Israel,” said the union. 

The remains of Israeli soldiers Shaul and Goldin have been held by Hamas since 2013, while Mengistu has been held captive for a number of years. 

Only one turbine is now working at the power station which supplies Gaza with most of its electricity. The Palestinian energy authority says the fuel that keeps it going will run out in 2 days. This will have a hugely damaging effect on Gaza’s hospitals & water supply.

— John Simpson (@JohnSimpsonNews) May 17, 2021

Bedouin Israeli citizen Hisham Al-Sayed is also being held by the group, but it is not known why he was not included in the demands. 

“At the moment it is a declaratory step, because it is not possible to go there due to the fighting. But once there is calm, and if the management issues instructions to go and repair the lines, we as a workers' union will ask not to connect them until the boys return,” said union leader Miko Tzarfati.

Israel is currently engaged in a brutal bombing campaign of Gaza, which has caused widespread damage to infrastructure and claimed the lives of 228 people, including over 60 children. 

Earlier in the week, Palestinian officials warned that dwindling supplies of fuel at the besieged enclaves’ only power plant will plunge Gaza into darkness. 

“Israel is preventing the entry of fuel to the power plant in Gaza,” Mohammad Thabet from the Electricity Distribution Company of Gaza, told a press conference in Gaza City.

“The available fuel is sufficient to operate the power plant for only two or three days,” he added.

The announcement by IEC was welcomed by right-wing Yamina MK Idit Silman. 

“I stand behind the people of the IEC who understand that the greatest moral and social value for the citizens of Israel is to come out of the fighting in Gaza not only with reinforced deterrence, but also with all four boys back home,” said Silman.

“Renewing the supply of electricity is a humanitarian act and the release of the boys is a humanitarian act of the highest order. Israeli humanitarian aid will only come if we receive our humanitarian needs from the other side,” he added, vowing to accompany any IEC employee to hearings that might result from a refusal to work.