GAZA, (PIC)-- IOF shelling of the Beit Hanun electricity transformer station during its incursion into the town in northern Gaza on Monday knocked out power in the area and paralyzed water supplies.

A Hamas statement on Tuesday charged the Israeli occupation forces with deliberately targeting the transformer station in line with the policy of tightening the siege on Gaza.

It said that around 200,000 citizens in northern Gaza spent Monday night in complete darkness and are still suffering from electricity outage and lack of water for 24 hours, which also affected work in hospitals and clinics.

Attempts to repair the transformer went in vain because the IOF troops continued to shell the vicinity, Hamas said, and held the "Zionist enemy" responsible for the catastrophic results of continued electricity blackout for the second consecutive day.

Meanwhile, the armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, fired a number of home made projectiles at Israeli targets surrounding the Strip in retaliation to the IOF crimes.