Israel on Thursday faced accusations of “acts of genocide” in Gaza, a charge it denounced as full of “lies”, while a medical charity said the devastation caused in the Palestinian territory showed “signs of ethnic cleansing”.
They are the latest in a series of similar accusations levelled against Israel – and denied by the country – during its 14-month war against Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
In a new report focused specifically on water, New York-based Human Rights Watch detailed what it called deliberate efforts by Israeli authorities “of a systematic nature” to deprive Gazans of water, which had “likely caused thousands of deaths… and will likely continue to cause deaths”.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally of Israeli official figures.
Since then, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 45,129 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
“Human Rights Watch is once more spreading its blood libels in order to promote its anti-Israel propaganda,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Since the beginning of the war, Israel has facilitated the continuous flow of water and humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite operating under constant attacks” from Hamas.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, denied using water as a “weapon”.
It said three water lines from Israel “are active, supplying an average of 107 litres per person in northern Gaza, 34 litres per person in central Gaza, and 20 litres per person in southern Gaza.
“According to international standards, conflict zones require 15 litres of water per person daily,” COGAT said.
In a separate report released on Thursday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) accused Israel of causing widespread devastation in Gaza and noted “signs of ethnic cleansing” in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Israel in early October began a major military operation in Gaza’s north, which it said aimed to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.
In a statement, MSF Secretary General Christopher Lockyear said what his medical teams have seen in Gaza “is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place”.
Lockyear said, “Signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation — including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment – are undeniable.”
Israel did not offer an immediate response to MSF’s accusation.
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