Int'l Rights Group slams power cut to Gaza

Israeli sources have confirmed that 5% of the power supply of each of the 10 lines supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip will be limited starting Thursday night.

The plan was signed Wednesday by deputy war minister Matan Vilnai. Israel and Egypt supply 70% of Gaza's electricity needs. The rest is produced in local power stations.

Ahead of the reduction the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) group said in a new report that the planned "cuts of fuel and electricity to Gaza... amount to collective punishment of the civilian population."

The cuts will eventually reduce the 120 megawatts supplies to the Gaza Strip by 1.5 megawatts.

HRW said the measures were affecting civilians and having a grave impact on essential infrastructure such as hospitals, water-pumping stations and sewage treatment facilities.

HRW's Middle East director Joe Stork said in a statement that the cuts violate a fundamental principle of the laws of war.

The Zionist regime supreme court on January 30 backed the decision to reduce fuel supplies to Gaza, claiming baselessly that the supplies provided were enough to meet the essential humanitarian needs of civilians.

The court also backed the plan to cut the amount of electricity from the Zionist regime to Gaza -- which accounts for around 65 percent of the territory's total.