The human rights report argues that Israel's restriction of water supplies in the Gaza Strip to levels below minimum requirements constitutes an act of genocide and extermination, a crime against humanity.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigated Israel attacked water infrastructure in the Gaza Strip during the 14-month Gaza war.
The government said deliberate actions aimed at drastically reducing the availability of clean water would force the population to rely on contaminated water sources and increase the risk of deadly diseases, especially among children. The Israeli military has been blamed for the outbreak.
HRW claimed that Israel's actions amounted to genocide, killing thousands of Palestinians, and cited a declaration by ministers from the country's ruling coalition to cut off Gaza's water supply as evidence of its intent.
of 184 page reportan act of extermination and genocide, was announced after an Amnesty International report this month concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
An interim order was issued by the International Court of Justice earlier this year to halt the attacks and take immediate steps to stop the commission of genocide, pending the court's ruling on whether Israel has already committed a crime. Ta.
Israel rejects accusations that it committed genocide and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized them as “false and outrageous.”
The regime has asserted its right to self-defense after Hamas attacked a community in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
While the claims raised by HRW are not as broad as Amnesty's and focus specifically on Gaza's water supply, the organization does believe that Israel has used water as a weapon against Palestinian populations, with deadly consequences. They claim there is overwhelming evidence that this is the case.
“Human Rights Watch has found that these Israeli policies amount to crimes against humanity of extermination and genocide,” said Rama Fakih, HRW Middle East and North Africa director.
The report states that “the most senior levels of Israeli authorities have committed the destruction, including the deliberate destruction, of water and sanitation infrastructure, the prevention of repair of damaged water and sanitation infrastructure, and the “They were responsible for the shutdown or severe restrictions.” , electricity and fuel.
“These actions have probably caused thousands of deaths and are likely to continue to do so, even after the fighting has ceased.”
Since the war began, there have been approximately 670,000 recorded cases of acute watery diarrhea and more than 132,000 cases of jaundice, a sign of hepatitis. The destruction of Gaza's hospitals and clinics has made viable childhood diseases far more deadly.
The report quotes medical personnel as saying that under “normal circumstances”, 1% of children infected with hepatitis A die from it. Currently, 5% to 10% of cases are fatal. Dehydration combined with malnutrition also commonly weakens people's immunity to disease.
Before the war, 80% of Gaza's water supply came from wells down to the aquifer below the coastal belt, but the water was contaminated and unfit for human consumption.
Most of Gaza's drinking water comes from three pipelines and desalination plants managed by the Israel Water Authority.
These pipelines were cut at the beginning of the war and only partially reopened. The United Arab Emirates built a water pipeline across its border with Egypt in February, but damage to the pipeline during the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) offensive on Rafah disrupted supply.
Gaza's three main desalination facilities ceased operations shortly after the war began and were only able to partially restart after Israel allowed the United Nations and other aid agencies to bring in limited amounts of fuel.
Satellite images reviewed by HRW showed that solar panel arrays powering four of Gaza's six sewage treatment plants were destroyed by Israeli military bulldozers – northern Gaza, al-Buraij camp, Gaza The factory is located in Sheikh Eileen in the center and in Khan Younis in the south.
Satellite images also showed that 11 of Gaza's 54 reservoirs were completely or largely destroyed, with a further 20 showing signs of damage.
A video posted on social media in July 2024 showed IDF combat engineers filming themselves blowing up a reservoir in Rafah's Tal Sultan district.
As evidence of intent, the HRW report points to Israeli ministerial declarations at the start of the war. On October 9, 2023, then Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “total siege” of Gaza.
“There's no electricity, there's no food, there's no water, there's no fuel. Everything is shut down,” he said. Gallant is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant on suspicion of war crimes.
Israel Katz, then energy minister and now defense minister, echoed calls to cut off water, electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza two days after Gallant's remarks.
Mr. Fakiha said: “Human Rights Watch has concluded that over the past year Israeli authorities have subjected Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to living conditions deliberately calculated to bring about their physical destruction, in whole or in part. .
“This amounts to an act of genocide under the Convention.”
