Rights group claims Gaza water scarcity is ‘act of genocide’; Israel: ‘Blood libel’
Human Rights Watch report accuses Israel of deliberately damaging water and sanitation sites amid war on Hamas; Jerusalem rejects ‘appalling’ charge, notes steps to ensure supply
Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused Israel of committing “acts of genocide” during the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip by allegedly damaging water infrastructure and cutting off supplies to civilians, calling on the international community to impose targeted sanctions and prompting outrage from Jerusalem, which said that the accusation was “appalling even when compared to HRW’s already low standards.”
In the new report, which focused specifically on water, the US-based rights group detailed what it said were deliberate efforts by Israeli authorities “of a systematic nature” to deprive Gazans of water, which had “likely caused thousands of deaths… and will likely continue to cause deaths.”
“Since October 2023, Israeli authorities have deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of water required for survival in the Gaza Strip,” the report claimed.
Israel has steadfastly rejected previous similar accusations of genocide, saying its actions in Gaza are legitimate military operations against the Hamas terror group, and that it takes extensive measures to avoid civilian casualties.
Responding to HRW, Israel highlighted the steps it says it has taken to ensure that water infrastructure remains operational in the Strip,
It said international partners had sent water tankers through Israeli crossings, including last week, and Israel had facilitated the entry of more than 1.2 million tons of humanitarian supplies into Gaza.
Last month, in order to improve water access across the war-torn enclave amid pressure from allies, a water desalination plant in Gaza was connected to Israel’s electricity grid, increasing the supply of clean water.
The plant is located in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and can provide 20,000 cubic meters of water daily to the nearby humanitarian zone where the vast majority of Gaza’s population is currently taking refuge from the conflict.
The HRW report detailed what the group contended was the intentional damaging of water and sanitation infrastructure, including solar panels powering treatment plants, a reservoir and a spare parts warehouse, as well as the blocking of fuel for generators.
Israel also allegedly cut electricity supplies, attacked repair workers and blocked the importation of repair materials, it said.
The report concluded that in doing so, “Israeli authorities intentionally inflicted on the Palestinian population in Gaza ‘conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.'”
In its response, the Foreign Ministry panned the report, which it asserted was “full of lies.”
“Human Rights Watch is once more spreading its blood libels in order to promote its anti-Israel propaganda,” it said. “This report is full of lies that are appalling even when compared to HRW’s already low standards.”
The United States said later Thursday it disagreed with HRW’s “acts of genocide” accusation against Israel.
“When it comes to a determination of something like genocide, the legal standard is just incredibly high, and so the finding in this scenario we just disagree with,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters. “That does not take away from the fact that there is a dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
‘Flagrant deceit’
The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, took to X to rebut HRW’s “libelous claim” that Israel had used water as a weapon against Gazans.
According to COGAT, three active water lines from Israel supply “an average of 107 liters per person in northern Gaza, 34 liters per person in central Gaza and 20 liters per person in southern Gaza.”
“According to international standards, conflict zones require 14 liters of water per person daily. The amount of water supplied exceeds that,” it stated.
Furthermore, COGAT asserted, Israel has “facilitated hundreds of water infrastructure repairs, both in northern and southern Gaza,” as well as the repair of the Kela electricity line, which allows the Khan Younis desalination plant to operate at full capacity, COGAT said, noting that the infrastructure had been damaged by Hamas.
“Some of these repairs were done under fire,” it added.
“We operate in accordance with international law,” COGAT stated. “Saying otherwise is just flagrant deceit.”
????A recent report claims Israel deliberately used water as a "weapon" in Gaza.
This libelous claim is an egregious lie.
This is why:
????3 water lines FROM ISRAEL are active, supplying an average of 107 liters per person in northern Gaza, 34 liter per person in central Gaza,…
— COGAT (@cogatonline) December 19, 2024
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre across southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were seized as hostages.
It has continued unabated for the last 14 months, besides a weeklong truce in November 2023 during which 105 hostages were released. Attempts to negotiate a longer, more sustainable ceasefire and the release of the remaining 100 hostages still in captivity have so far failed due to demands made by Hamas that Israel says are nonstarters.
Speaking at a briefing on the report, Lama Faqih, director of HRW’s Middle East and North Africa division, said that in the absence of “a clear articulated plan” to commit genocide, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) might find that the evidence meets the “very strict threshold” of reasonable inference of genocidal intent.
HRW pointed to a statement by then-defense minister Yoav Gallant in October 2023, when he declared a “complete siege” and said: “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed.”
But while Israel did initially stop supplying water to the Gaza Strip in the days following the Hamas terror onslaught, and insisted that it would only restart once the hostages abducted by the terror group had been returned, it walked back the threat fairly quickly.
By October 15, it had restarted the flow of water to the southern portion of the enclave, and by October 29, two of the three water pipelines had resumed operations, allowing for a total of 28.5 million liters a day to flow into the territory from Israel. The supply was just over half the amount that Israel would supply to the Strip each day prior to the Hamas invasion and massacre in southern Israel.
According to the HRW report, the supply of potable water in the Strip is still lacking.
It charged that the allegations it laid out amounted to the war crime of “extermination” and to “acts of genocide.”
However, HRW stopped short of saying Israel was committing outright “genocide.”
Under international law, proving genocide requires evidence of specific intent, which experts say is very difficult.
HRW said only that: “The pattern of conduct set out in this report together with statements suggesting some Israeli officials wished to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza may indicate such intent.”
‘Malnourished and dehydrated’
The HRW report, drawn up over nearly a year, is based on interviews with dozens of Palestinians in the Hamas-governed enclave, staff at water and sanitation facilities, medics and aid workers, as well as satellite imagery, photographs, videos and data analysis.
It said Israeli authorities did not reply to requests for information.
The lack of water left Gazans vulnerable to water-borne diseases and complications, such as infected wounds and the inability to heal due to dehydration, HRW argued.
Medical facilities said they were also struggling to maintain basic hygiene practices.
Deaths from such cases “are likely vastly underreported,” the report alleged.
Doctors and nurses told HRW “that many of their patients have died from preventable diseases and infections, and healable wounds, due to dehydration and the unavailability of water.”
One emergency room nurse cited in the report said they were forced to decide “not to resuscitate children who were severely malnourished and dehydrated.”
The rights group called on Israel to take numerous actions, including to “immediately ensure” sufficient water, fuel and electricity in Gaza.
It also said the international community must “take all measures within their power to prevent genocide by Israeli authorities in Gaza.”
That included “discontinuing any military assistance and arms sales or transfers, imposing targeted sanctions, and reviewing bilateral deals and diplomatic relations.”
The HRW report is the second in recent weeks to use the term “genocide” in relation to the war in Gaza. On December 5, Amnesty International accused Israel of deliberately destroying Palestinians by mounting deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.
That report was swiftly denounced by Israel as based on falsehoods, and Amnesty Israel workers accused the parent organization of reaching a “predetermined conclusion.”
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says that more than 45,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, although the toll cannot be verified, does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, and allegedly includes people killed by errant Palestinian rockets or by non-war-related causes. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November 2024, and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on and shortly after October 7 last year.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 388. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.