Gaza’s electricity crisis did not begin with the current war. For years before October 2023, most residents received power from the grid for just four to eight hours a day. To fill the gap, Gazans turned to solar. The number of rooftop solar installations grew from just 12 in 2012 to more than 12,400 by 2023, giving Gaza one of the highest densities of rooftop solar panels anywhere in the world, according to analysis by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
That infrastructure is now largely gone.
How the Destruction Unfolded
When Israel cut off all electricity to Gaza on October 8, 2023, one day after the Hamas-led attacks that killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel, solar power became the territory’s most critical remaining energy source. It powered hospital wards, water pumps, desalination plants and the phones that families used to find each other.
Israeli airstrikes then struck that infrastructure too. According to UNOSAT, more than 1,695 solar panels were destroyed during the conflict. Gaza’s energy authority estimates $500 million in total damage to energy infrastructure, with around 90 percent of solar panels affected. A satellite image analysis by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization found that approximately 65 percent of solar panels across the Gaza Strip had been damaged by March 2024 alone.
Among the most documented strikes was an attack on al-Shifa Hospital in November 2023. Al Jazeera’s correspondent Tareq Abou Azzoum reported from the scene: “They have destroyed the solar panels installed on the rooftop of the al-Shifa Hospital building. This is a clear attack that destroyed the solar panels that provide electricity to the main departments of the hospital.” Al Jazeera Israel’s chief military spokesperson at the time, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, denied the military had targeted the solar panels.
Why Solar Panels Became a Target
Satellite imagery also shows evidence of damage from Israeli strikes to larger-scale solar infrastructure, including the German-funded Gaza wastewater plant, which had only opened in April 2023.
Rights groups argue the pattern goes beyond battlefield damage. Rights groups say Israel has disrupted water accessibility in Gaza by blocking pipelines and destroying solar panels used to keep water pumps, desalination and waste treatment plants running during power outages.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights described the attacks as “a systematic and deliberate policy to drown Gaza in darkness and deprive its population of any source of energy.” Israel has not publicly addressed that characterisation.
Blocking new panels from entering has compounded the destruction. According to researchers, the Israeli army has blocked the entry of solar power equipment at the border, preventing wider access.
What It Means for Civilians
The human cost is direct and measurable. On March 9, 2025, Israeli authorities cut off electricity to a power line supplying a desalination plant and wastewater treatment facility, depriving more than 600,000 Palestinians of access to clean water.
Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher with Human Rights Watch in Lebanon, said the energy destruction compounds the broader displacement crisis. “These areas are heavily dependent on agriculture, olive groves, tobacco, and other crops, and this incident complicates people’s ability to return to their homes, maintain their livelihoods, and rebuild after extensive destruction,” he said.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, said cutting electricity means “no functioning desalination stations, ergo, no clean water.”
Will Reconstruction Be Possible?
Rebuilding will require starting from scratch with new cables, poles, solar panels and transformers. The UN FAO reported that the 2024 conflict caused more than $700 million in damage to Gaza’s broader infrastructure. Broken panels can also leak lead and heavy metal contaminants into the soil, creating long-term environmental hazards that extend well beyond the immediate power crisis.
Gaza had spent more than a decade building a solar network designed to survive political blockades and fuel shortages. Rebuilding it, if and when conditions allow, will take far longer.
Support Us To Sustain Independent Environmental Journalism In India.
Keep Reading
Highway Halt Puts Kashmirโs Fruit Economy at Risk
Railway line expansion plan put Kashmirโs apple orchards at risk
Warmer winters in Kashmir raise concerns over apple and crop yields
Stay Connected With Ground Report For Underreported Environmental Stories.
