Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to the besieged Gaza Strip will deprive the Palestinian territory of “clean water,” says the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.

Francesca Albanese said on Monday that the Israeli decision means “no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water.”

Rights groups say Israel has already disrupted water accessibility in Gaza to a considerable extent, including by blocking pipelines to the territory and destroying solar panels used to keep water pumps and desalination and waste treatment plants running during power outages.

Albanese also condemned the international community for inaction in that regard.

Countries that are yet to impose sanctions or an arms embargo on Israel are “aiding and assisting Israel in the commission of one of the most preventable genocides of our history,” she said.

Also on Monday, the Palestinian Authority condemned Israel’s decision as “an escalation in the genocide.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the Israeli Ministry of Energy’s decision to cut electricity to the Gaza Strip, considering it an escalation in the genocide, displacement and humanitarian disaster in Gaza.”  

On Sunday, Israeli media said the regime’s energy and infrastructure minister Eli Cohen ordered the Israel Electric Company to stop transmitting electricity to Gaza “immediately.”

Power has already been cut off since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem has told Anadolu, “Israel has practically cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip since the war began.”

“This is just another part of the occupation state’s starvation policy, in clear disregard of all international laws and norms.”

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed over 48,400 Palestinians there so far.

In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.