Israel has weaponised water – and the damage is terrifying

Infrastructures in Gaza have been compromised – so, too, has Palestinian civilians’ access to clean, drinkable water, writes Brian Perlman. As a result, the region is facing its worst water crisis in a decade

Since Israel’s offensive in Gaza escalated last year, we have witnessed the collapse of its healthcare system, surging child malnutrition, and the death of Palestinian civilians with tragic clarity. Yet, a quieter crisis is unfolding beneath the surface, as Palestinians in the Gaza Strip struggle to meet basic water needs.

Even before October 2023, Gaza’s water was in crisis. At least 96 per cent of the groundwater was deemed unfit for consumption by World Health Organisation (WHO) standards, largely due to an over-reliance on groundwater extraction. In turn, this has made the extracted water undrinkable without desalination.

Results from our research also indicate that, by 2022, more than one-third of households in the Gaza Strip experienced water insecurity in the prior year, and roughly a quarter of adults surveyed across the West Bank and Gaza reported moderate to high water insecurity. And the situation is only set to get worse.

The already fragile water infrastructure has been destroyed – both by targeted attacks and the indirect effects of war. Not only has Israel’s blockades on humanitarian supplies prevented clean water – and fuel, critical for desalinating and distributing water – from reaching individuals who need it, but the IDF has exacerbated the issue by flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater, likely increasing groundwater salinity.

Additionally, chlorine, a widely used modality for treating water in Gaza, is considered a “dual use” item (ie, useful for both civilian and military purposes) and so has not been allowed into Gaza since January 2024, although the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) distributed a small amount of chlorine in September.

Throughout the current conflict, Israel has repeatedly failed to meet its legal obligation to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza. Restrictions on the cross-border transfer of water via pipelines operated by an Israeli government-owned water company, Mekorot, highlight the cruel reality that water flowing into Gaza from Israel is inherently political. The result is that civilians are, by and large, left without access to safe water, compounding an already dire public health crisis.

You will have no doubt seen the pervasive images of Palestinians in Gaza carefully navigating through rubble, trying to avoid lakes of raw sewage – a direct consequence of the current water crisis. Among them is father of six Adel Abu Obeida, who told The Washington Post that he and his family “literally live in a large swamp of sewage”.

It is unimaginable but for many in Gaza, everyday mobility involves figuring out ways to avoid large pools of wastewater stagnating in the streets without sufficient drainage.

Sewage has been dumped not only onto the streets but also into the environment, primarily into the Mediterranean Sea, in alarming quantities – an estimated 60,000 cubic metres (about 24 Olympic-size swimming pools) per day in March 2024. All wastewater facilities in the Gaza Strip are reportedly non-functioning.

The lack of sufficient wastewater treatment and the inevitable contamination of drinking water supplies have exposed individuals to pathogens and created serious health risks for Palestinians – including, tragically, many unnecessary deaths.

Hepatitis A, a viral infection of the liver, can spread unchecked when wastewater pollutes living spaces. This vaccine-preventable infection can cause severe diarrhoea and inflammation of the liver leading to jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin).

The number of suspected cases of acute hepatitis A since October 2023 has likely surpassed 100,000, based on an estimate from the WHO, which dwarfs the fewer than 100 cases reported in the Gaza Strip the year prior.

Outbreaks of meningitis in displacement camps have also been attributed to the spread of wastewater.

This summer, international officials announced the identification of polio in the wastewater in Gaza, followed by the first case of paralysis diagnosed in August 2024. The resurgence of polio, which spreads in wastewater and is commonly found in settings of war and displacement, is particularly notable because it was eliminated from Gaza some 25 years ago. Similarly, cholera, if introduced, could prove even more deadly.

Although a temporary solution, unrestricted humanitarian access is needed to provide clean water, as well as fuel, chlorine, and other water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) supplies. Household water treatment kits and small-scale solar-powered desalination systems should be distributed to support those most in need of access to clean water.

It is also critical to equip local engineers and sanitation workers with the resources to make necessary repairs to damaged infrastructure and ensure their safety while doing so.

But in the long term, the infrastructure will need rebuilding – and questions over who will lead this effort and, indeed, fund it, will no doubt delay this from happening.

Although the weaponisation of water is not a new thing (similar tactics have been deployed in Ukraine, Syria, Ethiopia and elsewhere), it is still a grave violation of international humanitarian law – and something we must address immediately. Water is a basic human right and without swift intervention, there will be untold damage.

Brian Perlman is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University and an alumnus of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Berkeley Law’s Human Rights Center. Also contributing to this article are Dr Shalean Collins, PhD; Dr Zeina Jamaluddine, PhD; and Dr Juliane Schillinger, PhD, water and public health experts at Tulane University, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the University of Twente, respectively; and Dr Amir Mohareb, MD, an infectious disease expert at Harvard Medical School