Amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians face a critical water shortage that threatens their lives and health. Indeed, a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses Israel of “genocide” for depriving Palestinians in Gaza of an adequate water supply, a measure that has contributed to thousands of deaths and the spread of numerous diseases.
Between October 2023 and September 2024, Israeli authorities deliberately deprived Palestinians in Gaza of the minimum amount of water necessary for their survival, according to World Health Organization (WHO) standards. This deprivation has had devastating consequences, including deaths and the spread of serious diseases among the population.
According to WHO, each person needs 50 to 100 liters of water per day to meet their basic needs. In protracted emergencies, this minimum amount can be as low as 15 to 20 liters per day for drinking and hygiene. However, for the more than 2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, even this amount is inaccessible. Most, if not all, of the water that Palestinians in Gaza have access to is not safe to drink.
HRW says that Israel’s actions amount to genocide under the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The intentional obstruction of water supplies in Gaza has devastating consequences for the population, particularly for infants who cannot be adequately fed due to malnutrition and dehydration.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the latter’s October 2023 attack, has already claimed the lives of nearly 45,000 Palestinians and injured 106,000 others, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. HRW points out that the water blockage in Gaza is a deliberate tactic by Israeli authorities, with humanitarian aid being hampered and massive damage to Gaza’s water infrastructure following Israeli strikes.
In January, the World Bank and Ipsos estimated that nearly 60% of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed by the hostilities, a figure that rose to 84% by August. In July, Israeli soldiers destroyed a vital water reservoir serving Rafah in southern Gaza. The explosion was captured in a since-deleted video shared by an Israeli soldier on Instagram and geotagged by Fatshimetrie.
In a statement to Fatshimetrie, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein denied HRW’s accusations and claimed that Israel was “facilitating the continued flow of water and humanitarian aid” to Gaza.. He also assured that water infrastructure, including pipelines and desalination plants, remained operational.
The water crisis in Gaza has triggered a series of illnesses and deaths among the population, while access to clean water and adequate sanitation remains severely limited. Bacterial infections such as diarrhea have become widespread in the enclave due to consumption of contaminated water. The inability to access clean water has also opened the door to serious diseases such as polio, a case of which has been confirmed in Gaza for the first time in 25 years.
The HRW report highlights the human tragedy unfolding in Gaza, with potentially disastrous consequences for the health and well-being of Palestinians. Despite Israel’s denials and measures taken to keep water infrastructure functioning, the water crisis in Gaza remains a major challenge that requires urgent action to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
Pending a lasting solution to this conflict, the international community and humanitarian agencies must redouble their efforts to ensure equitable access to clean water and basic sanitation services for Palestinians in Gaza. The dignity and lives of thousands of people depend on the collective response to this humanitarian crisis, which cannot be ignored.