Israel is using water as a “punitive weapon” against Palestinians in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Tuesday in a report titled “Water as a Weapon” that Israel is deliberately depriving the people of the Gaza Strip of the water they need to survive, condemning what it described as a campaign of “collective punishment” against Palestinians.

The organization said that the widespread destruction of Gaza’s civilian water infrastructure, along with the obstruction of access to it, constitutes “an integral part of the extermination being carried out by Israel” in the Strip.

The report stated that this “engineered scarcity” of water is occurring in parallel with the killing of civilians, the destruction of health facilities, and the demolition of homes.

“The Israeli authorities know that life ends without water,” said MSF’s emergency director, Claire San Filippo, in a statement. “Yet, they have deliberately and systematically destroyed Gaza’s water infrastructure, while simultaneously continuing to block the entry of water-related supplies.” A Doctors Without Borders report cited data from the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Bank indicating that Israel has destroyed or damaged approximately 90% of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure.

The organization stated that “desalination plants, wells, pipelines, and sewage networks are now inoperable or inaccessible,” and documented several incidents in which water trucks and their associated wells were fired upon or destroyed.

According to San Filippo, “Palestinians have been injured and killed simply for trying to access water.”