Since the start of the war on October 7th, many questions have been raised about responsibility and control over resources such as water and electricity. While Hamas is responsible for allocating their use, as they are public resources and Hamas is the internal government of the Strip, Israel maintains large swaths of control over how much of the resources enter the strip at all.
In the first days of the war, Israel shut off water and electricity and prevented fuel from entering into the strip. It also bombed areas near the Rafah crossing after telling Egypt it would not allow aid to enter through the Egyptians-Gaza crossing. Gradually, more aid had been allowed into the strip, though there is still an ongoing fear and potential of famine.
In order to understand this moment, we need to try and understand how these resources entered the strip on October 6th and earlier.
“Dual Use” list
“Dual-use” Items that can be used for civilian and military purposes. The list of items the Israeli army defines as dual use is much larger than the international standard.
Dual-use items require special coordination with the Israeli army to enter and are often scarce or practically banned for this reason. Examples include: building materials, comms equipment, and steel pipes.
The list changes over time, as some items are added or removed. For example, in early 2023, the Israeli army announced that “incubators, thermometers, defibrillators, ventilators, glucometers, and electric wheelchairs” will all be removed from the dual use list.
With items regularly being added and removed, it raises the question of what the security justification is for adding them to the list in the first place, especially for such common civilian needs.
The Issues of Electricity, water, and the “dual-use” item list in Gaza are all related.
In practice, this is relevant to electricity and water access because preventing items from the dual-use list from reaching Gaza regularly and as needed means necessary infrastructure can’t be maintained properly, nor can new infrastructure be easily built.
Electricity
Daily need is 500 megawatts (MW).
- Electricity purchased from Israel directly to the strip is around 120 MW
- Gaza run power plant whose fuel is funded by Qatar and which is purchased from Israel, and produced regularly 65-75 MW
- Private generators (requiring fuel) and solar panels
- Egypt exports to Gaza fuel for diesel, petrol, and cooking gas, but not fuel for Gaza’s power plant.
In practice, two of the most, all sources require Israel’s involvement, directly or through fuel access.
Water
Daily consumption per person is 82 liters
- Water sources: overall use is 110 MCM
- A coastal aquifer. Gaza’s only natural reservoir. This water must be purified to be potable, requiring fuel.
- Three desalination plants which need fuel to function
- Around 15 MCM is purchased from Mekorot, Israel’s water company.
Like electricity, all three sources require Israeli involvement, either through fuel purchase or direct water purchase from Mekorot.
In most cases, Israel has partial and often full control of the source. I’ve been asked before “Doesn’t this prove that Israel is generous because it provides water and energy?” Control cannot be generous, it’s a tool, and what can be given can be taken away.
Yes, Hamas as the main governor of the strip could have done more to ensure daily access to energy and water needs and shares responsibility and blame.
And also, putting a closure with an enlarged dual-use list hasn’t weakened Hamas (it’s purported purpose). It has however weakened public and private infrastructure that 2.2 million people use and need.
And also, Israel can’t prevent necessary goods, equipment, parts, and fuel necessary for maintaining these infrastructures and then claim we have no control over the Gaza Strip and the millions who live there.
Sources and continued learning:
https://gisha.org/en/still-waters/
https://www.ochaopt.org/data/crossings
https://features.gisha.org/red-lines-gray-lists/
https://features.gisha.org/gaza-up-close/
https://gisha.org/en/fourth-turbine-temporarily-activated/
