LONDON (The Independent) -- The siege of Gaza has reached a vicious new intensity. Last Thursday, Israel blocked the delivery of fuel oil supplies to the Strip. The result is that Gaza’s only power station has not functioned since the weekend. Hundred of thousands of homes in the territory have been left without power. Hospitals have been forced to rely on diesel generators. Bakeries and petrol stations have closed. International aid organizations working in the Strip have warned of a threat to sewage and water supplies if the blockade continues.

The Israeli government denies it is creating a humanitarian crisis and calls the blackout a ploy by Hamas, the authority in Gaza, “to attract international sympathy”. This is not a view shared by John Ging, the operations director for the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza. It is true that the power station normally supplies only a third of the Strip’s electricity, but it is also clear that the Strip’s energy infrastructure cannot cope with such a massive disruption to supplies. The suffering in Gaza is real, and is the result of Israel’s embargo.
International law specifically forbids collective punishment of occupied populations. The Geneva Conventions stipulate that occupying powers have an obligation to supply utilities such as water and power to occupied populations.
Israel has attempted to get around this by arguing that it is no longer bound by the law governing the administration of occupied territories because it withdrew its troops from Gaza in 2005. But that is thoroughly unconvincing. Israel still controls Gaza’s borders, airspace and territorial waters. It may have begun referring to the Strip as a “hostile entity”, but this is plainly an area still under Israeli control.
The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, and the European Union’s External Affairs Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, have both declared the embargo unacceptable.