Since Israel began its bombardment and near-total blockade on humanitarian aid in Gaza almost 10 months ago, accounts of Palestinians spending hours each day searching for clean water and images of young children hauling jugs to fill up have been seen across the world, as aid groups document what Oxfam calls Israel's "water war crimes" in a new report of the same name.
The 66-page report, released Wednesday, documents how since October, Israel has systematically reduced the water available in Gaza by 94%, with just 4.74 liters per resident obtainable each day—less than a third of the recommended minimum amount in emergencies.
With Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's announcement in October of a "complete siege" on Gaza—home to 2.3 million people, about half of whom are children—Israel began not only blocking humanitarian aid including water deliveries from its national water company, Mekorot, but also commenced air and ground attacks on Gaza's water infrastructure.
An average of five of Gaza's water and sanitation sites have been taken out of service every three days, Oxfam found, reducing water production from sources in the Gaza Strip by 84% by late May.
Gaza City, the enclave's most populous city before it was largely destroyed by the bombardment, has lost 88% of its water wells.
With Israel blocking fuel deliveries as well as food, medical, and other necessary aid, 100% of the city's water desalination plants have been put out of service, making it impossible to treat seawater and brackish water to make it safe to drink.
Seventy percent of sewage pumps and 100% of wastewater treatment plants have also been destroyed throughout the enclave.
In a video accompanying the report, Oxfam showed a worker named Ghada, based in the Gaza Strip, standing in front of polluted water.
"The sanitation situation is really dire," said Ghada. "This is sewage-contaminated water. The smell is overpowering and it is almost impossible for anyone to endure."
Israel's "weaponizing of water," said Oxfam water and sanitation specialist Lama Abdul Samad, "is already having deadly consequences" for people in Gaza.
Sewage-contaminated water contains pathogens that can cause cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and other easily preventable diseases.
By late May, according to the report, 727,909 people had reported cases of water- and sanitation-related diseases, including 485,000 cases of acute diarrhea—the third-leading cause of death among children worldwide.
The number of fatalities from waterborne diseases is not available currently, said Oxfam, but "as the risk of famine persists across Gaza, where more than two million people face dangerous food insecurity, malnourished children under five with diarrheal diseases are at an increased risk of mortality."
Withholding water and forcing people, including young children, to rely on contaminated water supplies, "is what genocide looks like," said Yipeng Ge, a public health practitioner.
"Water is life," said Ge. "Israel is exterminating life in Gaza, and making the conditions unlivable. Those supporting Israel are supporting genocide."
Abdul Samad noted that the Israeli government had been "depriving Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza of safe and sufficient water for many years" before the IDF's bombardment began in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October.
In March 2023, Palestinians had 82.7 liters of water per person, per day—below the World Health Organization's recommended minimum. Groundwater was "severely contaminated due to over-extraction and contamination from seawater intrusion and sewage infiltration, leaving 97% of it polluted."
Now, said Abdul Samad, "the widespread destruction and significant restrictions on aid delivery in Gaza impacting access to water and other essentials for survival underscores the urgent need for the international community to take decisive action to prevent further suffering by upholding justice and human rights, including those enshrined in the Geneva and Genocide Conventions."
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