BICOM

Israel is set to boost electricity supply to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in order to help the operation of a new sewage treatment plant there.

Despite continued Hamas threats to Israel and periodic rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to supply Gaza with electricity. A new sewage treatment plant was recently built in northern Gaza with the help of funding from the World Bank. However, it has failed to operate properly due to a lack of adequate electricity allocation, consequently releasing raw sewage into the Mediterranean Sea. This has prompted Israel’s Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Yuval Steinitz to approve the provision of extra electricity to Gaza.

Meanwhile, Haaretz reports this morning that Israel’s Defence Ministry opposed a call to limit road traffic on the roads near the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Local residents have reportedly complained of traffic congestion and potential security risks. Around 950 trucks pass the crossing each day to deliver goods in Gaza. The Defence Ministry said that any restrictions on this flow would hamper reconstruction efforts and worsen the humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

Also this week the Shin Bet security agency announced that it believes Hamas has rebuilt its network of subterranean tunnels to the extent that operatives can travel the entirely of the Gaza Strip underground. Hamas used the tunnels to attack Israeli targets beyond Gaza’s border during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Although Israel destroyed the bulk of these tunnels during the conflict, Hamas has admitted to rearming and reconstructing the tunnels since then.

The Shin Bet said that a 17-year-old Hamas operative was recently arrested after crossing into Israel and under questioning. He said that there are “combat tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip”. The tunnel network can be used to move Hamas fighters around Gaza and even “includes rest quarters for use by elite unites in time of emergency”.