Euro-Mediterranean Monitor: Depriving the people of Gaza of drinking water by the occupation is a form of genocide

Occupied Al- Quds, (ST) – The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor affirmed that depriving Gaza Strip of safe drinking water by the Israeli occupation amounts to a death sentence, a war crime and one form of the genocide being committed by the occupation against the people of the Strip since last October.

The Monitor said in a report on Monday that thirst is sweeping the Strip, especially the areas of Gaza City and its north, due to the occupation’s cutting off of water supplies since the beginning of its aggression and its systematic and deliberate bombing of wells and water sources, in addition to the shortage of fuel needed to operate water stations.

The Monitor warned that the lack of drinking water in Gaza Strip has become a matter of life or death, at a time when people are forced to use unclean water from wells, which has contributed to the spread of infectious diseases, especially with the electricity outage, which has contributed to the shortage of water supplies.

The Monitor said that the occupation forces destroyed the two main water tanks as well as 65 percent of the wells in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, which led to a severe and unprecedented water shortage. It referred that the ordeal is multiplying as the occupation continues to impose severe restrictions on the arrival of humanitarian supplies to the Strip, especially Gaza and the North, including the quantities of fuel needed to operate water and sanitation facilities.

The Monitor pointed out that the suffering from the lack of drinking water in the northern Gaza Strip is more severe and disastrous, as the residents of Jabalia camp have not drunk clean drinking water since the beginning of the aggression.

The Monitor quoted Alian Abdul Ghani, who lives in the center of the camp, as saying: The occupation destroyed the only two water desalination plants in the camp. This forces them to drink salt water that is secured with great difficulty, which leads to the spread of diseases, especially among children.

The Monitor stated that in addition to causing stomach intestinal diseases, the excessive consumption of non-potable water causes increased blood pressure, kidney disease and a possibility of being exposed to a stroke, and this ultimately leads to excessive dehydration of the body’s tissues, especially the brain.

The Monitor pointed out that the severe and continuous deprivation of the people of Gaza Strip from drinking water is considered as a form of the crime of genocide being committed by “Israel” against the Palestinian people.

Raghda Sawas