Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel’s negotiating team left for Qatar Monday for talks aimed at extending the fragile Gaza ceasefire after the authorities cut the Palestinian territory’s electricity supply to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

Ahead of the negotiations, Israel disconnected the only power line to a water desalination plant in Gaza, a move Hamas denounced as “cheap and unacceptable blackmail”.

The first phase of the truce deal expired on March 1 with no agreement on subsequent stages that should secure a lasting end to the war that erupted with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

There are differences over how to proceed – Hamas wants immediate negotiations on the next phase, but Israel prefers extending phase one.

Hamas accused Israel of reneging on the ceasefire deal, saying in a statement on Monday that Israel “refuses to commence the second phase, exposing its intentions of evasion and stalling”.

An Israeli official familiar with the negotiations told AFP the country’s team had left for Doha. Media reports said the delegation was led by a top official from the domestic security agency Shin Bet.

Israel has halted aid deliveries to Gaza amid the deadlock and said on Sunday it was cutting the electricity supply.

“We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after” the war, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said.

- Loss of drinking water -

The move echoed the early days of the war when Israel announced a “complete siege” on the Palestinian territory, severing the electricity supply, which only began flowing again in late 2024.

Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanoua said Israel’s move would impact its hostages still held in Gaza.

“The decision to cut electricity is a failed option and poses a threat to its prisoners, who will only be freed through negotiations,” Qanoua said in a statement on Monday.

The United Nations expressed concerns over Israel’s latest decision.

“This latest decision will substantially reduce the availability of drinking water in the Gaza Strip, starting today,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

“Restoring this connection is vital for tens of thousands of families and children.”

Germany’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said that cutting off electricity was “unacceptable and not compatible with (Israel’s) obligations under international law”.

But Israel’s key military ally, the United States, appeared to back the decision.

“The Israelis are going to do what they believe is in their interest to force Hamas to make a decision,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told journalists.

The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies electricity to the territory’s main desalination plant, and Gazans now mainly rely on solar panels and fuel-powered generators to produce electricity.

- ‘Long-term truce’ -

Gaza residents told AFP the electricity cut would only worsen their situation.

“The decision to cut off electricity is proof of a war of extermination,” Dina al-Sayigh said from Gaza City.

“The occupation never stops killing Palestinian civilians, whether by bombing, missiles or by starvation.”

Hamas has repeatedly demanded that the second phase of the truce – brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States – include a comprehensive hostage-prisoner exchange, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire and the reopening of border crossings to end the blockade.

Spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP that Hamas wanted the mediators to ensure Israel “complies with the agreement… and proceeds with the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms”.

Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving hostage releases and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.

US envoy Adam Boehler, who has held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, told CNN on Sunday a deal could be reached “within weeks” to secure the release of all remaining hostages.

Of the 251 hostages taken during the October 7 attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed dead.

Boehler told CNN a “long-term truce” was “real close”.

- ‘Nothing available’ -

Hamas meanwhile accused Israel of violating the ceasefire by keeping its troops at the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land on the Palestinian side of the Egypt-Gaza border.

Hamas said that, according to the ceasefire deal, Israel was to remove troops from the corridor by Sunday. Israel seized the area last year and insists that controlling it is vital to stop smuggling of weapons into Gaza.

The initial 42-day phase of the truce, which began on January 19, reduced hostilities after more than 15 months of relentless fighting that displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.

But in recent days, Israel has carried out daily strikes targeting militants in Gaza, including on Monday when it struck three people it said were trying to plant explosives.

During the ceasefire’s first phase, 25 living Israeli hostages and eight bodies were exchanged for about 1,800 Palestinians in Israeli custody.

Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,467 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.