Three Months Later, Extensive Effects Continue to be Felt in the Gaza Strip. Israel must fund repairs and compensate for damages

Today, B'Tselem is publishing Act of Vengeance, a report on the effects of Israel 's bombing of the Gaza power plant on 28 June 2006. As the report shows, most residents of the Gaza Strip continue to be cut off from electricity half of every day, with wide-ranging, adverse affects. The lack of electricity harms the health care provided to the residents; most city dwellers are supplied water only two or three hours a day; the sewage system is approaching crisis level; people with limited mobility living in high-rise buildings suffer from lack of functioning elevators; the lack of refrigeration potentially subjects residents to food poisoning. Small businesses reliant on a regular power supply have been badly affected. The problems resulting from the lack of a steady supply of electricity are exacerbated by the poor economic conditions in the area.

B'Tselem determines that the bombing of the power plant was illegal and defined as a war crime in International Humanitarian Law, as the attack was aimed at a purely civilian object. It also was an act of collective punishment. Although the bombing followed the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit and the firing of Qassam rockets at Israeli communities, there was no apparent military basis for the action, and it seems that its intention was to satisfy a desire for revenge.

Even if one adopts the doubtful claim that the attack provided some definite military advantage, it was disproportionate and Israel had other, less harmful alternatives, such as cutting off the electricity supplied to the Gaza Strip by the Israel Electric Corporation. Israeli decisionmakers chose not to implement this option, apparently out of concern for the financial losses and potential lawsuits to the Israeli electric company, opting instead for the most ruinous alternative for Gazan civilians. It should be noted that cutting off the electricity supplied to a civilian population is an illegal act, regardless of how it is achieved.

In conclusion, B'Tselem demands that the government of Israel order a criminal investigation into the bombing, with the intention of prosecuting the persons responsible for ordering and carrying out the attack. Also, Israel must fund the rehabilitation of the power plant, and until then, facilitate the upgrading of the electricity infrastructure from Israel to the Gaza Strip. B'Tselem also calls on the government to allow compensatory claims in Israeli courts by residents and entities of the Gaza Strip.