Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by cutting off access to clean water, an action the organization says constitutes acts of genocide and extermination under international law.
“This deliberate policy, carried out as part of widespread killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, shows that Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination. It also qualifies as an ‘act of genocide’ under the 1948 Genocide Convention,” stated the Human Rights Watch report.
Israel denies these allegations, stating it follows international law and has the right to defend itself, particularly following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas fighters from Gaza. That attack killed 1,200 people and led to more than 250 hostages being taken into Gaza.
While Human Rights Watch described the lack of water as genocide, it emphasized that proving this crime would also require evidence of intent by Israeli officials. The report pointed to statements by some senior Israeli officials that, according to Human Rights Watch, indicate a desire to harm or destroy Palestinians. This denial of water, they argue, “may amount to genocide.”
Lama Fakih, Human Rights Watch’s Middle East director, explained, “Our findings reveal that the Israeli government is deliberately killing Palestinians in Gaza by cutting off the water essential for their survival.”
This marks the second recent instance where a prominent rights group has described Israeli actions in Gaza as genocide. Earlier, Amnesty International released a report with similar conclusions. Both reports follow the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for alleged war crimes. Both have denied the accusations.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted after the Holocaust, defines genocide as acts intended to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, in whole or in part.
The 184-page Human Rights Watch report alleges that Israel stopped water supplies to Gaza, cut electricity, and limited fuel, crippling Gaza’s water and sanitation systems. In many areas, Palestinians had access to only a few liters of water daily, far below the survival threshold of 15 liters per day.
Since the war began, Israel’s campaign has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, and left much of the region in ruins.
