Could Israel keep the lights on and water running during a regional war?

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Utilities prepare for possible attacks on Israel

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Energy minister says there is no need to panic

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Israelis have bought generators, emergency supplies

By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM, May 1 (Reuters) - Israeli utilities have deployed backup generators, filled water reservoirs to the brim and stepped up cyber defences in case the Gaza conflict triggers war against Israel on multiple fronts.

The energy minister has told Israelis there is no need to panic about the possibility of blackouts and energy supply disruptions as Israel has a wide variety of sources to generate electricity.

But many Israelis showed their concerns by buying household generators and stocking up on emergency supplies even before an Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel on April 13, and some vulnerabilities are clear.

While Israel has not suffered anything like the damage to power supplies and infrastructure that its Gaza offensive has wrought on the enclave, it was forced to shut its offshore Tamar gas rig for a few weeks as a precaution when the war began.

A full conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement would raise concerns about the security of Israel's Leviathan field farther north.

There is also the chance, industry officials say, that Israel's air defences would be overwhelmed during a full-blown war and that falling debris from mid-air missile interceptions would damage critical infrastructure.

Israel's defence ministry and military did not respond to Reuters questions about preparations for such scenarios.

But state-owned utilities are now on a war footing, stockpiling inventory and fixing equipment damaged along the Gaza and Lebanon fronts, sometimes under fire. Four electricity workers have been killed while at work since October.

"We have generators spread out across the country. Since Oct. 7, all our generators are deployed," said Tamar Fekler, vice president of operations and logistics at Israel Electric Corp (IEC). "If the grid is damaged, within seven minutes the generator comes online and returns electricity to the grid."

If one power plant is hit, she said, it is relatively easy to bring electricity from another. But handling the smaller substations that distribute electricity to specific areas is a bigger challenge. IEC has prepared temporary substations as backup, but even that might not be enough, Fekler said.

"There is no guarantee here. If tomorrow, heaven forbid, hundreds of missiles are intercepted and cause harm to dozens of substations, we will apparently be in a different situation," she said.

Depending on the extent of the damage, this could mean two to three days of no electricity in large parts of Israel, officials say. In extreme cases, the period without electricity could be even longer.

Should this happen, power supply will be prioritised for hospitals, desalination plants, military facilities and other critical infrastructure, Fekler said.

RESERVOIRS FULL

Israel's allies have repeatedly warned of a regional conflict since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by a raid on Israel by the Islamist group Hamas in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its offensive to eliminate Hamas, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Steps by Israeli national water carrier Mekorot to prepare for the worst-case scenario include filling its reservoirs and setting up a backup power system that it says can ensure supplies for at least a week during rolling blackouts.

"Mekorot keeps storage ponds all over the country, as well as continued pumping from the Sea of Galilee, in order to maintain a supply of water for all needs," said deputy CEO Daniel Soffer, whose company relies heavily on an array of energy-hungry desalination plants.

The utilities say they are facing an increase in cyber attacks during the war.

Check Point Software Technologies, the biggest cyber security company in Israel, has detected a doubling of cyber attacks on Israeli organizations since October.

"Much of that increase stems from Iranian groups," Check Point CEO Gil Shwed told reporters in a conference call. "We specifically have identified 10 types of attacks. Five coming from Iran, according to our sourcing, and five from Hezbollah, which is also backed up by Iran."

"We are seeing that the Iranians have a significant impact, including attacks to take control of infrastructure, hospitals, educational institutes, critical infrastructure," he said.

The Iranian missile and drone attack in mid-April was unprecedented, but caused no major damage.

When Israel was forced at the start of the Gaza war to temporarily shut production at the Tamar gas rig, its main supply of power, it compensated with extra supplies from the export-oriented Leviathan field.

Leviathan, however, is in range of Hezbollah missiles and could also be at risk of temporary closure if exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border escalated into all-out war.

"There is no real reason to panic," Energy Minister Eli Cohen said at the time of Iran's attack. "Israel has the ability to generate electricity from a big variety of sources spread out across the country - above ground, deep underground and at sea."

"We have gas rigs, reserves of diesel fuel, independent reserves of coal, and we are generating a lot of electricity from renewable energy sources in many areas," he said. (Editing by Timothy Heritage)