Israel has connected a power line to a main desalination plant in the Gaza Strip to provide additional drinking water to Palestinian residents in the enclave, Reuters quotes Israel’s military as saying.

The power line goes directly from Israel to a UN-managed desalination plant in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis so that Hamas cannot exploit the new energy supply, according to a statement by the Israeli military and COGAT, the agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians.

Production will jump fourfold to 20,000 cubic metres of drinking water per day, the statement said.

However, that is far from enough to supply the population of Gaza, which has been devastated by nine months of Israeli military campaign.

“The increase in supply of water is a further step taken to support humanitarian efforts for Gazan residents, and to prevent contamination and outbreaks of disease during the summer months,” the statement said.