Water Authority: Water is a matter of life and death… and the international community should not stand silent in the face of starving our people and depriving them of food and water
On the occasion of the International Water Day which marks the 22 of March of each year, the Palestinian Water Authority issued a statement demanding the international community for prompt action to stop the Israeli occupation from resuming its brutal continuous aggression on Gaza Strip and West Bank camps. The statement emphasized halting violations that aim to cut off basic services, banning the entry of entering humanitarian assistance, and taking immediate action to support the Palestinian government’s efforts to provide basic services and resilience in his land, with water as primary concern.
The statement mentioned that the preliminary assessments on the damage assure that more than 80-85% of water and wastewater facilities are out of service partially or completely, and this applies only in areas where damage has been recorded. The total available water does not exceed 30% of what it was before the aggression in Gaza. The people in Gaza strip live unprecedented water crisis in accessing clean water. Per capita water share in Gaza does not exceed 3-5 liters, and it is less than the minimum survival requirement 15 liters/per person/ day highlighting the humanitarian catastrophe encountered by the people of Gaza, in terms of access to clean water, hygiene, food, agriculture and water needed for hospitals. Near –complete cessation of the sewage systems has led to transboundary waste water posing a wide scale environmental and public health threat.
.On this occasion, Head of Water Authority, Dr. Ziyad al-Mimi emphasized that the International Water Day comes for the second consecutive year amid a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the occupation, which targets the water sector and deliberately cuts water to 2 million Palestinian citizens suffering genocide. He pointed out that while the world focuses on finding solutions to “preserve glaciers” in order to ensure the continuity of life, and as we share the international community’s concern and attention to climate change phenomena, which now threaten the world, the international community must also dedicate more attention to humanitarian and water catastrophe, resulting from conflicts and wars. Their repercussions turned out catastrophic in the context of what the world is witnessing today. The ongoing crimes of the occupation over decades in looting water resources, and the resulting humanitarian conditions for the Palestinian people, demand prompt action and specialized international platforms to defend the water rights of the Palestinian people, and to halt the occupation’s arbitrary policies.
The statement assured that since Oct.2023, the occupation turned water from a source for life into a collective punishment weapon, using genocide to increase daily suffering of thirst and hunger, and spreading disease to force them into displacement. This has made access to water an existential issue caused by the Israeli occupation, which not only tightens its grip on water resources, but also deliberately destroys what little remains available to the Palestinian people through its ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, aiming to turn them to an uninhabitable place.
Dr.al-Mimi indicated that from the very first day of the Israeli aggression, Water Authority’ staff continued with water service providers, and various partners to implement several interventions aiming at providing water to citizens in Gaza. By the end of January 2025, the early recovery plan for the first 6 months was prepared following the cease-fire. WA started to implement the first phase for the government’s emergency plan for southern governorates, supervised and executed by the Government Operation Room, and established by the Palestinian Council of Ministers. The emergency action plan and the recovery road map for water and wastewater sector in Gaza were prepared aiming at the recovery of the sector after the aggression, and the restoration of water and wastewater services. These require significant efforts and cooperation from all relevant parties with funding that may exceed $1.5 billion.
As for the West bank, in Jineen, Tulkarem, Noor Shams and al-Far’a camps, the occupation displaced thousands of residents and continued to destroy the components of the infrastructure, and this included the water and wastewater networks Repeatedly, the Israeli occupation uses water a tool for collective punishment and displacement of the Palestinian people. According to local reports and humanitarian organizations, tens of thousands of displaced people are struggling to obtain their water needs in their places of displacement.
With the resumption of the aggression on Gaza Strip, and the Israeli military troops expanding their incursions in the West Bank camps, and given the difficult humanitarian tragedy our people is experiencing, the Water Authority in conclusion of its statement, called upon the international community to assume their responsibilities: To stop this brutal aggression instantly, secure aids and required needs to provide water, electricity and fuel to the Strip, to stop displacing our people in Gaza the West Bank and Jerusalem, to provide immediate international protection for the Palestinian people. He called upon the international community to hold Israel accountable for its actions in violation of laws and covenants related to water. He added that the international accountability should be activated, considering the destruction of the infrastructure for water and wastewater as war crimes, according to international laws.
