Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of committing “acts of genocide” in Gaza by deliberately denying Palestinian civilians there access to water.
It says Israel’s actions include deliberately damaging water and sanitation infrastructure.
The campaign group says this is likely to have caused thousands of deaths, which it also says amounts to “committing the crime against humanity of extermination”.
Israel dismissed HRW’s report as “propaganda.”
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The 179-page report says that “Israeli authorities have deliberately prevented Palestinians’ access to the sufficient amount of water needed to survive in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.”
It says Israel deliberately damaged infrastructure, including solar panels that power treatment plants, a reservoir and a spare parts warehouse, while also blocking fuel for generators.
It says Israel has also cut off electricity supplies, attacked repair workers and blocked access to repair materials in Gaza.
“This is not just negligence,” said HRW director Tirana Hassan. “It is a calculated policy of deprivation that has led to the deaths of thousands of people from dehydration and disease, and is nothing less than the crime against humanity of extermination, and an act of genocide.”
The report is based on interviews with dozens of Palestinians from Gaza, including water authorities, sanitation experts and health workers, as well as satellite images and data from October 2023 to September 2024.
Israel launched a major military offensive in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.
At least 45,129 people have been killed since the offensive began, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry in Gaza. No figure is given on the number of people who died due to lack of access to water or other similar causes.
The HRW report notes that alleged acts require proof of intent to qualify as genocide. It said the findings, including statements from senior Israeli officials, “may indicate such an intention.”
But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein rejected HRW’s allegations about terrorist organization Hamas”.
He said water pipelines and pumping and desalination facilities remained operational, and that water tankers had repeatedly delivered supplies into Gaza through Israeli border crossings.
“This report is full of lies that are appalling, even compared to HRW’s already low standards,” he added.
The HRW report is the latest in a series of accusations from rights groups and others that Israel is committing genocide during its campaign in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s highest court – is also currently investigating a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the Nazi holocaust of European Jewry, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations as “completely baseless” and motivated by anti-Semitism. It says it has not deliberately harmed civilians in Gaza, and that it is fighting Hamas alone.
