Israel using 'water as weapon of war' as supply down 94%, Oxfam says
Israel is "weaponising water" in Gaza after data showed the amount available has plummeted by 94% since the outbreak of the war, Oxfam said.
The charity said in a report that the average Gazan now had around 4.74 litres of water per day available to them - just under a third of the recommended minimum for survival in emergencies.
The amount is less than what is used in a single toilet flush.
Halima Begum, Oxfam GB Chief Executive, said: "Tragically, this is yet more proof of the horrors being inflicted on the people of Gaza by the Israeli Government, which is using starvation and, as this report shows, the systematic deprivation of water as a weapon of war.
She added: "The impact on families in Gaza is unimaginable, from people being forced to drink polluted water to facing rivers of sewage in the streets.
"These appalling conditions are causing significant risk of dehydration and creating a breeding ground for the spread of disease, putting many more lives at risk."
Ms Begum said this behaviour left little doubt that "this represents a clear violation of international law" and called on the new government to do more to achieve peace in Gaza.
Oxfam's report found five water and sanitation infrastructure sites had been destroyed every three days since the start of the war.
The charity also said Israel had destroyed all of the wastewater treatment plants and 70% of all sewage pumps.
The report said Gaza City has lost nearly all its water production capacity, with 88% of its water wells and 100% of its desalination plants damaged or destroyed.
They said more than a quarter of Gaza's population had now fallen gravely ill from easily preventable diseases commonly spread via the extreme lack of clean water and sanitation.
More than 38,000 people have been killed and more than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population have been driven from their homes, with most now crowded into squalid tent camps, facing widespread hunger.
Monther Shoblak, general manager of The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, which is responsible for water and sanitation in Gaza and with whom Oxfam works, said he and his colleagues "have been living through a nightmare" since the war broke out.
"But we still feel it’s our responsibility and duty to ensure everybody in Gaza is getting their minimum right of clean drinking water.
"It’s been very difficult, but we are determined to keep trying – even when we witness our colleagues being targeted and killed while undertaking their work."
On Monday new foreign secretary David Lammy visited Israel and called for a ceasefire.
In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he called for the immediate release of all hostages, an immediate ceasefire and "the protection of civilians, unfettered access to aid in Gaza, and a pathway towards a two-state solution".
Oxfam urged the new Labour government to go further in putting diplomatic pressure on Israel and by ending arms sales to the country.
Oxfam said the government should "look at all the evidence and question whether it is morally or legally right to allow arms sales to Israel to continue in the face of such atrocities.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ October 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and abducted around 250.
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