Gaza City, October 8 (RHC)-- The Israeli regime has cut electricity to the Gaza Strip as it intensifies its attacks against the besieged Palestinian territory.  The regime’s energy minister said he ordered the Israeli electricity company to halt power supply to the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

“I have signed an order instructing (Israel) Electric Company to stop the electricity supply to Gaza,” Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

Palestinians have launched their biggest operation against Israel in years in a surprise offensive that combined fighters crossing the fence into Israeli occupied cities with a heavy barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Power outages are an everyday occurrence in Gaza and households only had electricity for several hours a day on a rotational basis on the days before recent power cuts started.

Gaza's power authority says 80 percent of the electricity supplies to Gaza from the national grid have been cut off following Israel's announcement.  Israeli forces launch raids on various cities of the occupied West Bank on an almost daily basis under the pretext of detaining what the regime calls “wanted” persons. The raids usually lead to violent confrontations with residents.

Meantime, Palestinian medics said more than 230 people have been killed and many more injured as a result of Israeli bombardment across the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday.  A large number of the buildings, homes and public facilities in Gaza have also been badly damaged due to heavy Israeli airstrikes.

The Israeli regime forces launched the deadly airstrike after resistance fighters staged a surprise, large-scale operation in response to the desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque amid increased settler violence.

Already, the rising death toll makes 2023 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the United Nations began keeping track of fatalities in 2005.