Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of committing “acts of genocide” in Gaza by deliberately depriving Palestinian civilians there of access to adequate water.
It says Israel’s actions include deliberately damaging water and sanitation infrastructure.
The campaign group says this may have caused thousands of deaths, which it says also amounts to “committing the crime of genocide against humanity”.
Israel refused Human Rights Watch report As “propaganda”.
In a post on XAn Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the group “is once again spreading its bloody slander… and the truth is the complete opposite of Human Rights Watch’s lies.”
The 179-page report says: “Since October 2023, the Israeli authorities have been deliberately obstructing Palestinians’ access to the sufficient amount of water needed to survive in the Gaza Strip.”
It says Israel deliberately destroyed infrastructure, including solar panels that power treatment plants, a tank, and a spare parts warehouse, while also preventing fuel for generators.
It says Israel also cut off electricity supplies, attacked repair workers and prevented repair materials from entering Gaza.
“This is not just negligence,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “It is a calculated policy of deprivation that has led to thousands of deaths from drought and disease, and is nothing less than a crime against humanity, an act of genocide.”
The report is based on interviews with dozens of Palestinians from Gaza, including Water Authority officials, sanitation experts and health care workers, as well as satellite images and data from October 2023 to September 2024.
Israel launched a major military offensive on Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.
At least 45,129 people have been killed in Gaza since the offensive began, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Strip. It does not specify a figure for the number of people who died as a result of lack of access to water or other such causes.
The Human Rights Watch report notes that the alleged acts require evidence of intent in order to constitute the crime of genocide. It says the findings, including statements by senior Israeli officials, “may indicate such intent.”
But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein rejected Human Rights Watch’s allegations about
He added that water pipelines, pumping and desalination facilities are still working, and that water tankers have repeatedly delivered supplies to Gaza through Israeli crossings.
He added: “This report is full of appalling lies even when compared to Human Rights Watch’s already low standards.”
The Human Rights Watch report is the latest in a series of accusations by human rights groups and others that Israel committed genocide in its campaign in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, is currently hearing a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Israel has strongly denied such allegations, calling them “completely baseless” and motivated by anti-Semitism. It says it did not intend to harm civilians in Gaza, and that it is only fighting against Hamas.
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