Palestinians collect drinking water in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, December 4, 2024. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90
A human rights organization has released a detailed report accusing Israel of committing an act of genocide and extermination by restricting Gaza’s water supply to levels below the minimum necessary for survival, which is a crime against humanity.
Human Rights Watch stated in its 184-page report, “This policy, inflicted as part of a mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, means Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing. This policy also amounts to an ‘act of genocide’ under the Genocide Convention of 1948.”
Israeli government leaders have continued to assert that Israel has the right to defend itself after the brutal Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 of last year, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage.
In a statement on 𝕏, Israel’s foreign ministry wrote: “The truth is the complete opposite of HRW’s lies.”
“Since the beginning of the war, Israel has facilitated the continuous flow of water and humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite operating under constant attacks of Hamas terror organization,” the statement said.
Israeli forces have been accused of deliberately cutting the availability of clean water “so drastically that the population has been forced to resort to contaminated sources, leading to the outbreak of lethal diseases, especially among children.”
Following a polio outbreak among children in Gaza this past summer due to a lack of proper sanitation and crowded living conditions, there was a global outcry urging humanitarian aid organizations to enter the region and provide vaccinations to the children.
During a media briefing in September, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza, said his team was “confident” they reached their target of vaccinating at least 90% of children under age 10.
The final phase of the humanitarian campaign took place in November when 94,000 children received a second dose of the polio vaccine.
Maintaining their accusations of “genocide,” Human Rights Watch stated, “The Israeli government stopped water from being piped into Gaza, cut off electricity, and restricted fuel which meant Gaza’s own water and sanitation facilities could not be used.”
This has resulted in Gazans only having access to a few liters of water per day in many areas, “far below the 15-liter threshold for survival,” the group said.
Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations that it has committed genocide or crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called them “false and outrageous.”
