Power supplies have been returning in Spain and Portugal after large parts, including the capitals Madrid and Lisbon, were hit by a huge outage on Monday.
Millions of people were caught up in the chaos after the mass blackout brought many areas to a standstill, with trains stopping, planes grounded, internet and mobile phone services cut, traffic lights and ATMs down, and some routine hospital operations suspended.
Spain‘s interior ministry declared a national emergency and the two countries’ governments convened emergency cabinet meetings as officials tried to find out what caused the outage which started around 12.30pm (11.30am UK time).
Image: A police car passes as vehicles wait in a traffic jam on the other side of the road in Madrid. Pic: Reuters
Image: People gather outside Barcelona-Sants train station during a power outage. Pic: Reuters
About half the electricity supplies in Spain have now been restored by the grid operator, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday evening, adding the rest should be back by Tuesday.
In a televised address, Mr Sanchez said authorities have not yet worked out what had caused the blackout in the Iberian Peninsula and were not ruling anything out.
He asked the public to refrain from speculation, and urged people to call emergency services only if really necessary.
Eduardo Prieto, the head of operations at Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica, said the event was unprecedented, calling it “exceptional and extraordinary”.
Meanwhile, Portugal‘s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said power in his country would be fully restored in the coming hours.
He said all the state services remained operating in the country despite all the difficulties. He also said there was “no indication” a cyberattack was the cause.
Image: A chef in Madrid works in a dark kitchen with the aid of his phone’s flashlight. Pic: Reuters
Image: Fans are seen after Madrid Open matches were suspended due to a power outage. Pic: Reuters
‘Rare atmospheric phenomenon’
Portugal’s grid operator Ren claimed the outage was caused by a fault in the Spanish electricity grid, related to a “rare atmospheric phenomenon”.
Ren says that, due to extreme temperature variations in Spain, there were “anomalous oscillations” in very high-voltage lines.
It also says that given the complexity of the issue, it could take up to a week for the network to fully normalise again.
It comes as France briefly lost power following the outages in Spain and Portugal, French grid operator RTE said.
Parts of Madrid underground were evacuated and traffic lights in the city were not working, according to local media.
Play was suspended at the Madrid Open tennis tournament due to the outage – with Britain’s Jacob Fearnley forced off court in a critical moment during his third-round tie with Grigor Dimitrov.
The loss of power affected scoreboards and the camera above the court. Organisers later announced the tournament would not be able to resume on Monday, with afternoon and evening sessions cancelled.
What has been affected by the blackout?
Here’s what we know has been impacted so far:
:: Transport, including trains, metros and airports – with traffic lights also down.
:: Internet and mobile coverage.
:: Lighting in homes, businesses and other buildings, though backup generators are in place in many.
:: ATMs and card payments, as well as most till systems.
:: Lifts in buildings are stuck.
:: Electric car chargers and fuel pumps are also down.
:: Air conditioning units.
:: A significant quantity of water pumps, meaning some homes have no access to drinking water.
Airports affected
Aena, which runs international airports across Spain, said earlier that “some incidents were occurring” at the airports due to the outage.
The company added in a statement: “Contingency generators are active. Please check with your airline, as there may be disruptions to access and ground transportation.”
People ‘had nowhere to go’
Maddie Sephton, who is from west London, was on the Madrid Metro when the power outage occurred.
“We got on the train and everything was fine,” she told Sky News. “But then everything went dark.”
She was stuck on the train for 20 minutes until a staff member opened the doors manually.
Image: A metro worker passes underneath barricade tape to enter Legazpi Metro station after the outage. Pic: Reuters
Image: A view shows a transmission tower during a power outage near Barcelona in Spain. Pic: Reuters
Mrs Sephton says she was on her way to the airport at the time – and had to exit the station by walking up 15 flights of stairs with her luggage.
“No lifts are operating – making it difficult for elderly people with limited mobility,” she added.
Above ground, she said that “everyone is just standing around and waiting”.
Image: Medical staff relocate a patient in Pamplona, Pic: AP
Bars were unable to take card payments, cash machines are down, and traffic lights weren’t working either.
“I currently don’t have any internet service and just €15 in my wallet – I can’t withdraw any money from the ATM,” she added.
“A couple have offered to let us get a ride in their taxi to the airport. Their flight is at 4.30pm so they’re pretty relaxed – but my flight back to London is at 3pm and I’m nervous.”
Mrs Sephton said: “People are just walking but have nowhere to go, and nothing to do.”
Image: Traffic lights have stopped working following a power outage in downtown Lisbon, Portugal. Pic: AP
Image: People try to board a crowded bus after the subway stopped running following a power outage in Lisbon, Portugal. Pic: AP
Meanwhile, thousands of passengers had to be evacuated after the blackout left the metro service in Barcelona without power.
The blackout was also reported to have forced the closure of the city’s tram system and rendered some traffic lights there inoperable.
It has also impacted medical facilities, with hospitals in Madrid and Catalonia forced to suspend routine medical work. Staff have been able to attend to critical patients using power from backup generators.
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It comes as Metrovalencia, the urban rail system, encompassing both metro and tram services in Valencia, said traffic in the city was “disrupted” due to a “general power outage in the city”.
The outage also hit the Portuguese capital Lisbon and surrounding areas, as well as northern and southern parts of the country.
Portugal’s government said the incident appeared to stem from problems outside the country, an official told national news agency Lusa.
“It looks like it was a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain. It’s still being ascertained,” Cabinet Minister Leitão Amaro was quoted as saying.
“We call drones our loyal friends, because they never leave us.”
Tasneem hears Israeli drones overhead, a constant fact of life in Gaza. It gets into your head, into your chest, she says.
“You can’t think, you can’t sleep. You can’t even be.”
“It’s always there, hanging above our heads, like some kind of punishment,” she says. In the background, the slow, constant buzz of a drone is audible.
“The people here in Gaza know that when the drone gets very low, at this level, something will happen. We all know what that something is… I don’t want to mention it.”
Image: Tasneem al Iwini shared voicenotes with Sky News
Tasneem al Iwini is 24. Like her peers across the world, she splits her time between work, studying for a master’s degree and spending time with her family of six.
Except she also has to deal with warplanes screaming overhead, rocketing food prices and the possibility that any day could be the last for her or her loved ones as Israel continues its war in Gaza.
To give a sense of what day-to-day life is like for her in Deir al Balah, Tasneem recorded a series of audio diary entries over the course of a week as part of her work with ActionAid and shared them exclusively with Sky News.
Image: Smoke rises over Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Day One: At least I’m still breathing
It’s incredibly hot today,Tasneem says. The kind of heat that makes your skin heavy and your thoughts slower.
I had so many things to do on my plate today, but honestly, I couldn’t move.
There’s no electricity and no fans, no air conditioner. So here I am just laying on my mattress and sweating.
My only relief is my plastic tray. I’m just using it as my personal fan…
I keep waving it back and forth, not to cool the room, but just to trick my brain into thinking I have control over this heat.
Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine I’m somewhere cold, as I actually prefer winter.
But then I hear the buzz of flies and mosquitoes in my ear and I remember this is Gaza, summer 2025. It’s exhausting, but at least I’m still breathing.
Day Two: Rocketing price of food
It’s Friday, which is a special day for us as it is the day we usually wait to cook something special. Today we are cooking maqluba (a traditional dish consisting of meat, rice and fried vegetables).
We haven’t tasted any kind of real protein like meat, chicken or fish for more than three months. I really miss chicken and fish badly.
But even this fake maqluba costs a lot, so many families can’t afford it… vegetables are very expensive.
Image: Tasneem prepares meals with what she can get. Pic: Tasneem/ActionAid
Before the war we used to cook maqluba with at least four kilos of eggplants, because we are crazy about eggplants and its taste in maqluba . Now, if we manage to cook it with only two eggplants, that’s considered a luxury.
The price of one kilo of eggplant is more than 45 shekels. That’s approximately $12.50. Talking about tomatoes, the price is more than 90 shekels, which is approximately $27 per kilo.
Here we go again. Our dear friend, the drone, Tasneem says as a buzzing noise hums in the background.
It just never leaves. It’s always there hanging above our heads like some kind of punishment.
The sound, I don’t even know how to describe it.
It’s not just noise. It gets into your head, into your chest. You can’t think, you can’t sleep, you can’t even be.
It drains something inside you slowly, and yet we live with it every day.
Later on:
Hi again. I’m just recording the gunfire. We are not sure what is happening outside, actually.
I can say that this is almost an every afternoon routine.
Image: Tasneem al Iwini speaking about conditions in Gaza
Day Four: A message to the world
Today I came across a small community kitchen, one of the very few still functioning.
Because of the current situation, especially the scarcity of food and the near-total blockade on the humanitarian aid, most of these kitchens have shut down…
Image: Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Tasneem says that just after she left the office, the community kitchen was hit in an Israeli strike.
Three youths were killed, and many children were injured.
Those children were playing around and nearby the kitchen…
This time I went to send a message to the world, with a heavy heart burdened by the challenges and the impossible conditions we live under.
I still hold on to hope that this war will end… Because honestly, here in Gaza, we have lost trust in the world, governments and every actor.
Day Five: How many children must die?
Good evening, dear friends. I don’t really know what to say. I feel like my heart is just a drain.
Yesterday I promised to take you through the rest of my day, but honestly, I came home feeling exhausted…
I bought just two cucumbers, and that cost me $8. Yes, $8 for two cucumbers.
This is what it means to say that even the basics have become impossible to get in Gaza.
I came home, washed the cucumbers and cut them into small pieces so all of us could taste what it feels like to eat cucumber.
Tomatoes are even worse. They are completely unaffordable in the market.
Image: Palestinians gather at an aid distribution centre. Pic: Reuters
And every time I think about the situation we are living through here in Gaza, I feel like I’m out of patience. I just can’t take more.
How many of us have to die before the world decides to intervene? And how many children must die, not from bombing or shelling, but from starvation and malnutrition?
Today, the telecommunications company in Gaza announced that in the next 24 hours it is expected that internet services will shut down again because of the fuel shortage and because of the occupation, who continue to block fuel from entering the Strip.
And this does not mean losing the internet only. It means patients in the ICUs will lose connection to life. It means ambulances, fridges for medications and blood, even water pumps for both drinking and domestic use will stop working.
I was planning today to come home and study for my final exams, but I just sat there for a moment thinking about our reality.
And I couldn’t, I couldn’t do anything. So instead, I decided to record this for you. This is what Gaza looks like right now.
Day Seven: The cemetery is full… and the horror of jets overhead
There are many types of weapons being used… and here in Gaza, we the people have learned to genuinely distinguish between them.
We know each sound by heart.
For example, we know the sound of the F-16 (fighter jet) very well. We can even guess when it has a target.
It has a special tone, like it’s rushing towards something. There is a tension in the air, and we feel it in our bodies.
Whenever I hear one of them, I swear I feel like this is the last moment of my life. I cover my ears with both hands and run to stay nearby my family, because in this moment my heart tells me, if something happens, let it happen to all of us together.
I know that’s not how it works, but that’s how I cope. That’s the only way I feel some false sense of control…
Sometimes it feels like the pilot is showing off, flying lower over the heads of women, children and civilians, as if to say: “Look at me. I can do this.”
Every time the jets go low, I start praying, I do everything I can as if it is the end of my life.
Image: A Palestinian boy walks amid debris after strikes in Deir al Balah. Pic: AP
In another voicenote from the same day, Tasneem talked about her walk to work.
I pass by the cemetery every day. Today, I saw a situation that truly broke my heart.
There was a group of angry people gathered around the person who is responsible for digging graves.
They were shouting, saying the cemetery is completely full, and now they have started opening all the graves without knowing who is buried there and without getting any consent from the families of the dead.
They are placing new dead bodies on the top of the old ones, whether they are men, women or children.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:06
‘Many people here prefer death over displacement’
Most people were furious, and honestly, I was so disappointed and heartbroken when I saw this.
This is one of those things I wish I never had to witness, but I wanted to share it with you, because it says so much about how bad things have become.
‘Critical moment’ for Gaza
Tasneem works with the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza and has partnered with ActionAid in the UK.
A spokesperson for ActionAid UK said: “Humanitarian workers like Tasneem are risking their lives every day to support and advocate for their fellow Palestinians in Gaza, despite experiencing the same intolerable conditions that they are.
“Just imagine having to go to work when you haven’t had a proper meal in days, knowing that at any moment you could be killed by bombing: that is their daily reality. Yet still, people like Tasneem are bravely speaking out and telling their stories so that the world knows the truth about the horrors they are facing…
“This is a critical moment. It’s time for the world to take meaningful action and use every diplomatic lever available to bring about a permanent ceasefire and end the siege on Gaza immediately so that food and other aid can enter unhindered, rapidly and at scale.”
“We call drones our loyal friends, because they never leave us.”
Tasneem hears Israeli drones overhead, a constant fact of life in Gaza. It gets into your head, into your chest, she says.
“You can’t think, you can’t sleep. You can’t even be.”
“It’s always there, hanging above our heads, like some kind of punishment,” she says. In the background, the slow, constant buzz of a drone is audible.
“The people here in Gaza know that when the drone gets very low, at this level, something will happen. We all know what that something is… I don’t want to mention it.”
Image: Tasneem al Iwini shared voicenotes with Sky News
Tasneem al Iwini is 24. Like her peers across the world, she splits her time between work, studying for a master’s degree and spending time with her family of six.
Except she also has to deal with warplanes screaming overhead, rocketing food prices and the possibility that any day could be the last for her or her loved ones as Israel continues its war in Gaza.
To give a sense of what day-to-day life is like for her in Deir al Balah, Tasneem recorded a series of audio diary entries over the course of a week as part of her work with ActionAid and shared them exclusively with Sky News.
Image: Smoke rises over Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Day One: At least I’m still breathing
It’s incredibly hot today,Tasneem says. The kind of heat that makes your skin heavy and your thoughts slower.
I had so many things to do on my plate today, but honestly, I couldn’t move.
There’s no electricity and no fans, no air conditioner. So here I am just laying on my mattress and sweating.
My only relief is my plastic tray. I’m just using it as my personal fan…
I keep waving it back and forth, not to cool the room, but just to trick my brain into thinking I have control over this heat.
Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine I’m somewhere cold, as I actually prefer winter.
But then I hear the buzz of flies and mosquitoes in my ear and I remember this is Gaza, summer 2025. It’s exhausting, but at least I’m still breathing.
Day Two: Rocketing price of food
It’s Friday, which is a special day for us as it is the day we usually wait to cook something special. Today we are cooking maqluba (a traditional dish consisting of meat, rice and fried vegetables).
We haven’t tasted any kind of real protein like meat, chicken or fish for more than three months. I really miss chicken and fish badly.
But even this fake maqluba costs a lot, so many families can’t afford it… vegetables are very expensive.
Image: Tasneem prepares meals with what she can get. Pic: Tasneem/ActionAid
Before the war we used to cook maqluba with at least four kilos of eggplants, because we are crazy about eggplants and its taste in maqluba . Now, if we manage to cook it with only two eggplants, that’s considered a luxury.
The price of one kilo of eggplant is more than 45 shekels. That’s approximately $12.50. Talking about tomatoes, the price is more than 90 shekels, which is approximately $27 per kilo.
Here we go again. Our dear friend, the drone, Tasneem says as a buzzing noise hums in the background.
It just never leaves. It’s always there hanging above our heads like some kind of punishment.
The sound, I don’t even know how to describe it.
It’s not just noise. It gets into your head, into your chest. You can’t think, you can’t sleep, you can’t even be.
It drains something inside you slowly, and yet we live with it every day.
Later on:
Hi again. I’m just recording the gunfire. We are not sure what is happening outside, actually.
I can say that this is almost an every afternoon routine.
Image: Tasneem al Iwini speaking about conditions in Gaza
Day Four: A message to the world
Today I came across a small community kitchen, one of the very few still functioning.
Because of the current situation, especially the scarcity of food and the near-total blockade on the humanitarian aid, most of these kitchens have shut down…
Image: Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Tasneem says that just after she left the office, the community kitchen was hit in an Israeli strike.
Three youths were killed, and many children were injured.
Those children were playing around and nearby the kitchen…
This time I went to send a message to the world, with a heavy heart burdened by the challenges and the impossible conditions we live under.
I still hold on to hope that this war will end… Because honestly, here in Gaza, we have lost trust in the world, governments and every actor.
Day Five: How many children must die?
Good evening, dear friends. I don’t really know what to say. I feel like my heart is just a drain.
Yesterday I promised to take you through the rest of my day, but honestly, I came home feeling exhausted…
I bought just two cucumbers, and that cost me $8. Yes, $8 for two cucumbers.
This is what it means to say that even the basics have become impossible to get in Gaza.
I came home, washed the cucumbers and cut them into small pieces so all of us could taste what it feels like to eat cucumber.
Tomatoes are even worse. They are completely unaffordable in the market.
Image: Palestinians gather at an aid distribution centre. Pic: Reuters
And every time I think about the situation we are living through here in Gaza, I feel like I’m out of patience. I just can’t take more.
How many of us have to die before the world decides to intervene? And how many children must die, not from bombing or shelling, but from starvation and malnutrition?
Today, the telecommunications company in Gaza announced that in the next 24 hours it is expected that internet services will shut down again because of the fuel shortage and because of the occupation, who continue to block fuel from entering the Strip.
And this does not mean losing the internet only. It means patients in the ICUs will lose connection to life. It means ambulances, fridges for medications and blood, even water pumps for both drinking and domestic use will stop working.
I was planning today to come home and study for my final exams, but I just sat there for a moment thinking about our reality.
And I couldn’t, I couldn’t do anything. So instead, I decided to record this for you. This is what Gaza looks like right now.
Day Seven: The cemetery is full… and the horror of jets overhead
There are many types of weapons being used… and here in Gaza, we the people have learned to genuinely distinguish between them.
We know each sound by heart.
For example, we know the sound of the F-16 (fighter jet) very well. We can even guess when it has a target.
It has a special tone, like it’s rushing towards something. There is a tension in the air, and we feel it in our bodies.
Whenever I hear one of them, I swear I feel like this is the last moment of my life. I cover my ears with both hands and run to stay nearby my family, because in this moment my heart tells me, if something happens, let it happen to all of us together.
I know that’s not how it works, but that’s how I cope. That’s the only way I feel some false sense of control…
Sometimes it feels like the pilot is showing off, flying lower over the heads of women, children and civilians, as if to say: “Look at me. I can do this.”
Every time the jets go low, I start praying, I do everything I can as if it is the end of my life.
Image: A Palestinian boy walks amid debris after strikes in Deir al Balah. Pic: AP
In another voicenote from the same day, Tasneem talked about her walk to work.
I pass by the cemetery every day. Today, I saw a situation that truly broke my heart.
There was a group of angry people gathered around the person who is responsible for digging graves.
They were shouting, saying the cemetery is completely full, and now they have started opening all the graves without knowing who is buried there and without getting any consent from the families of the dead.
They are placing new dead bodies on the top of the old ones, whether they are men, women or children.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:06
‘Many people here prefer death over displacement’
Most people were furious, and honestly, I was so disappointed and heartbroken when I saw this.
This is one of those things I wish I never had to witness, but I wanted to share it with you, because it says so much about how bad things have become.
‘Critical moment’ for Gaza
Tasneem works with the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza and has partnered with ActionAid in the UK.
A spokesperson for ActionAid UK said: “Humanitarian workers like Tasneem are risking their lives every day to support and advocate for their fellow Palestinians in Gaza, despite experiencing the same intolerable conditions that they are.
“Just imagine having to go to work when you haven’t had a proper meal in days, knowing that at any moment you could be killed by bombing: that is their daily reality. Yet still, people like Tasneem are bravely speaking out and telling their stories so that the world knows the truth about the horrors they are facing…
“This is a critical moment. It’s time for the world to take meaningful action and use every diplomatic lever available to bring about a permanent ceasefire and end the siege on Gaza immediately so that food and other aid can enter unhindered, rapidly and at scale.”
More than 63,000 Palestinians have now reportedly been killed during Israel’s war in Gaza, a figure likely to rise after the IDF declared Gaza City a combat zone on Friday.
The number of people killed, reported by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, follows nearly 23 months of war.
Image: A mourner during the funeral of Palestinians killed while trying to receive aid. Pic: Reuters
Israel on Friday claimed the city was a Hamas stronghold and alleged that a network of tunnels remains in use despite several previous large-scale raids on the area.
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged Palestinians to flee south, calling evacuation of the city “inevitable”.
But the head of the Red Cross warned it would be impossible to keep people safe during such a mass evacuation.
Many people in Gaza City would not be able to follow evacuation orders because they are starving, sick or injured, Mirjana Spoljaric said.
Image: Palestinians are being urged to flee Gaza City by the Israeli military. Pic: Reuters
International humanitarian law requires Israel to ensure civilians have access to shelter, safety and nutrition, when evacuation orders are issued.
“These conditions cannot currently be met in Gaza. This makes any evacuation not only unfeasible but incomprehensible under the present circumstances,” Ms Spoljaric added.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced it had targeted Abu Obeida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, in a strike on Gaza City, according to Israeli media.
And Mr Netanyahu later said the body of hostage Idan Shtivi was retrieved from Gaza.
Image: A Palestinian child waits to receive food from a charity kitchen. Pic: Reuters
Four people were killed by Israeli gunfire on Saturday while trying to get aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Awda hospital, where the bodies were brought.
Their deaths join the almost 1,900 people who the UN say have been killed while seeking food since 27 May, including more than 1,000 killed in the vicinity of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites.
“Most of these killings appear to have been committed by the Israeli military,” a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Thameen Al-Kheetan said.
Israel has previously blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians at aid sites.
The conflict began with a Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw around 1,200 people killed and about 250 people taken hostage.