Most of the international media are reporting that Israel has plunged Gaza into darkness but have ignored the continuing flow of electricity from the Israel Electric Corp. (IEC) to Gaza residents. "Besieged civilians pay the price for Israel's hard line response to rocket attacks," The British Guardian told its readers, noting that the Gaza population has "no light, no heat [and] no bread."

The government and the IEC have charged that the Hamas authority has fabricated the supposed humanitarian crisis by unilaterally cutting off electricity, but there has been no coordinated presentation of the facts. Most of the electricity in the Gaza area is provided by Israel and Egypt, while media reports have concentrated on the single Gaza power plant that has been shut down because of lack of diesel fuel.