Israel breaks record for ‘water-related violence’ against Palestinians

Israel has set yet another grim record, illustrating further the harsh reality of its brutal military occupation of the Palestinian territories. A report by the Pacific Institute, a California-based non-partisan think tank, has revealed that despite its small size and accounting for only 0.12 per cent of the global population, Israeli attacks on Palestinian water supplies accounted for a staggering quarter of all water-related violence globally in 2023.

The study documents nearly 350 water conflicts worldwide last year, marking a 50 per cent increase over 2022. Alarmingly, Israeli forces and settlers were responsible for 90 intentional acts of contamination or destruction of Palestinian water infrastructure in the occupied territories. This equates to more than seven incidents of water-related violence every month.

READ: Access to 90% of drinkable water in Gaza has been lost

“There was a massive uptick in violence over water in 2023, widely around the world, but especially in the Middle East,” said Dr Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute. He added that these cases “highlight different aspects of the growing water crisis: the failure to enforce and respect international law; the failure to provide safe water and sanitation for all; and the growing threat of climate change and severe drought.”

In June, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that “67 per cent of water, sanitation facilities and infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged” in the Gaza Strip since 7 October.

The report details numerous incidents in both Gaza and the West Bank. In Gaza, where the water situation was already dire before Israel launched its military assault on Gaza after 7 October, Israeli air strikes have caused extensive damage to critical infrastructure. One notable incident involved the partial destruction of EU-supported solar panels powering a wastewater treatment plant serving one million people.

In the West Bank, where last week Israeli settlers carried out another pogrom against Palestinians by setting fire to the town of Jit, much of the water violence is linked to illegal Israeli settlements. The report cites instances of settlers pumping wastewater onto Palestinian agricultural lands, demolishing water tanks and pipelines, and uprooting olive trees.

Morgan Shimabuku, senior researcher at the Pacific Institute, expressed concern over the implications of these findings. “The large increase in these events signals that too little is being done to ensure equitable access to safe and sufficient water and highlights the devastation that war and violence wreak on civilian populations and essential water infrastructure,” he said.

The report underscores the growing impact of climate change on water-related conflicts, particularly in regions already grappling with political instability. As water resources become increasingly scarce, the potential for further violence and humanitarian crises looms large, says the report, especially in the occupied Palestinian territories where access to water is already severely restricted.

This latest record of water-related violence adds to the mounting evidence of systematic violations of Palestinian rights under Israeli occupation, which the International Court of Justice said is illegal in a landmark ruling last month.

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