"The murderous attack this morning was not a terrorist act, it was an act of war..." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday 12 July, 2006 in response to the killing and abduction of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon (from the WP).
The Israeli response to both this incident and the one in Gaza has been to shut down the local systems (air travel, electricity, roadways, etc.). This is similar to an airpower effects based operation (EBO) designed to incapacitate a state, but the effects generated in this situation are likely only to strengthen Israel's non-state enemies (as if not to be outdone by the ability of the US to manufacture global guerrillas). On the other hand, one interesting strategy undertaken by the EBO attack on Gaza is that it could be a bid to return Gaza to codependency on Israeli electricity generation (although, how this limits the growth of non-state enemies is beyond me). Here's the details from a well researched article by Rachelle Kliger from The Media Line:Israeli aircraft took out six transformers of the Palestine Electric Company (PEC) in a June 28 attack, in a bid to secure the release of captured soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, and to cripple the activities of Palestinian cells launching missiles onto Israeli communities from Gaza. In contrast to Palestinians living in the West Bank, who receive nearly all their electricity from Israel, Gaza has tried to wean itself off Israeli power by building its own power station.
In normal times, the PEC, which was established in 1999 by a group of Palestinian investors, provides nearly 55 percent of the electricity consumed in Gaza. The remaining power is provided by the Israel Electric Company (IEC). The power shortage caused by Israel’s air strike has brought life in Gaza to a standstill. With less than half the required power, electricity in Gaza is now being manually allocated in rotation to different neighborhoods, for a few hours at a time.
Frequent power cuts are affecting water supplies, as the water pumps run on electricity; sewage treatment is being damaged, threatening to cause environmental and health problems; hospitals are concerned their generators will break down, which will have life-threatening consequences for some of their patients. Not only individuals are bearing the brunt of the situation. Businesses are cutting down opening hours, relocating their investments to Egypt, or closing down altogether, said Hanan Taha, executive manager of Paltrade’s Gaza office.Which leads to this (which is yet another additional lesson to non-states actors on how to take-down states):
The IEC is aware of the shortage in Gaza, and maintains it is doing all it can to help, providing an extra 7-8 megawatts of electricity. “As much as it can, the Israel Electric Company has always adopted the policy of ‘leave electricity out the conflict’” said Dedi Golan, a spokesman for the IEC. Golan stressed that the IEC was not involved in any way with the damage to the transformers, but the company is doing what it can to alleviate the hardships of Gaza’s power-deprived civilians. Even though these lines are saturated, Golan said there is an operational instruction to transfer as much power as possible, and to coordinate the transferal with both sides so that the lines don’t collapse from overload.
The IEC is making arrangements for emergency supply to Gaza, but Golan said it requires permits. “Once these permits are obtained, implementation will take about three months,” he said. Meanwhile, experts estimate it might take between 10 and 12 months to rebuild the station. The cost of the damage is about $15 million.