Israeli ministry urges stocking up in north as a war preparation

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
29 Feb 2024 10:20

Israeli authorities are preparing settlers for power cuts that will affect at least 60% of Israelis in a possible war with Hezbollah.

Rockets (R) fired from the Gaza Strip fly toward occupied territories as the Israeli Iron Dome system fires interceptors (L), during the Resistance's response to the assassination of Resistance leaders, on May 13, 2023. (AP)

The Israeli Ministry of "Justice" published a recommended purchase list of equipment and goods that it shares with its employees, including electrical generators in its latest handout, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Warning its employees against a possible "blackout scenario", the Ministry recommended that they buy personal electric generators to circumvent power cuts in a possible war against the Resistance in Lebanon.

Israeli authorities and media outlets are dealing with the scenario of wide-scale power cuts in settlements as an inescapable fact waiting to happen if "Israel" launches a wide-scale aggression on Lebanon. Aerial attacks from Lebanon's Hezbollah are expected to target several vital sectors across occupied Palestine, including the occupation's power grid and generators.

In detail, the Ministry expects that "a war in the north might lead to cutting power off 60% of Israelis."

The Ministry also urged settlers to purchase antiepileptic drugs, trash bags, power banks, small gas burners, food, and water.

Haaretz said that such preparations would cost settlers a bare minimum of 3,000 Shekels (840 US), while others who seek better packages would have to spend multiple salaries to do so. The newspaper went on to say that settlers would find it difficult to cover such bills, especially after thousands lost their jobs in the last quarter of 2023 while tens of thousands of Israeli reservists suffer from mounting loans, which they took out to cover their expenses since October 7 last year.

Malfunction hints at what is to come

Earlier on February 18, Israeli media reported on widespread power outages across many areas in occupied Palestine on Sunday, including in Haifa, Safad, and "Dimona".

The outage, which also reached "Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva, and Beersheba," was allegedly due to a "technical malfunction" at one of the power stations and not a cyberattack, the news outlets claimed, noting that 120,000 Israelis remained without electricity during the blackout.

Although the outage was short-lived, a full-out war with the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon is expected to result in prolonged outages. In some incidents, power in al-Jalil Panhandle's settlements was cut off on multiple occasions due to minor damages. In one case, all power in the largest settlements was cut off due to a single rocket impact in "Kiryat Shmona".

In this situation, the potential impact goes beyond just electricity. Hezbollah has identified various military and infrastructure targets that could disrupt the everyday lives of settlers and severely impact the occupation force's capabilities. An Israeli push for expanding the area of engagement may then have unintended and irreversible consequences for the occupation.