GAZA’S electricity supply has been cut to around three hours a day as Israeli bombing of the besieged Palestinian enclave continued today for the eighth consecutive day.

Heavy damage was reported after an Israeli drone targeted the al-Zaytoon neighbourhood south-east of Gaza City, while civilian property was damaged by an Israeli warplane as it bombed the town on Beit Hanoun.

Further missile strikes targeted the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel insisted it was responding to two missiles fired from the Palestinian territory.

Some two million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a punitive blockade since 2007, depriving residents of much-needed food and medical supplies.

Israel, which also controls the waters off the Gazan coast, has grounded Palestinian fishing boats and closed the Karem Abu Salem crossing, the only commercial route into the enclave, stopping

This has stopped crucial supplies of fuel from reaching Gaza, and today the Gaza Energy Authority confirmed that the power plant had closed down as a result.

Without a functioning Gaza power station, the electricity deficit will increase to 75 per cent plunging the electricity supply to Gazans to as low as three to four hours a day, authorities said.