Israel's attorney general has temporarily halted the government's bid to cut back on electricity to the Gaza Strip, demanding more work to prevent humanitarian harm.
Attorney General Meni Mazuz's decision late Monday came after 10 human rights groups petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to stop the move, charging they are collective punishment. On Sunday, Israel cut fuel supplies to Gaza Strip, but government officials said the planned electricity cuts would have to await the outcome of the court case.
According to the AP, the Justice Ministry said in a statement late Monday that Mazuz determined that "in the case of electricity cutoff, more staff work needs to be done by the defense establishment to determine the possibility of implementing this measure to comply with the government decision in the matter, which qualified these measures over humanitarian harm to the civilian population."
The government has until Thursday to respond to the petition by the human rights groups.
On its part, the European Union slammed Israel's decision to cut back fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza on Monday, calling the measures "collective punishment."
