As Israel’s ongoing campaign of genocide against the Gaza Strip continues, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has issued a grave warning of a real and imminent threat of death from thirst facing Palestinians in the besieged enclave. This follows the near-total collapse of water supply systems due to the systematic Israeli bombardment of vital infrastructure and the blockade on fuel supplies since March.
According to the UN agency, Palestinian families across Gaza are now “facing the threat of dying from thirst”, with only 40 percent of drinking water facilities still operational, amidst a rapid deterioration that signals an impending water and humanitarian catastrophe. UNRWA described Gaza as being “on the brink of a man-made drought.”
This crisis highlights one of the deeper dimensions of the war on Gaza, which has not only involved the killing of civilians and attacks on homes, hospitals, and schools, but also the deliberate targeting of life-sustaining essentials, especially water.
IOF’s denial of fuel entry for over 100 days, along with the repeated targeting of water facilities, constitutes a clear policy of depriving the Strip of water and forcing thirst upon its population. This extends far beyond military objectives and imposes deadly conditions for survival.
Scenes from daily life show that access to water has become a battle in itself. Water wells have ceased functioning, either due to fuel shortages or because they lie in areas made inaccessible by airstrikes. Main water pipelines have either collapsed or been destroyed in attacks, and water tankers, which once offered a temporary solution, are now unable to meet even the bare minimum needs due to limited mobility and direct targeting.
What is happening in Gaza is not merely a humanitarian crisis, but a systematic and deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, aimed at dismantling the conditions necessary for a dignified life, or life at all. The deprivation of over two million Palestinians of water, in the context of a broader war involving starvation, killing, and forced displacement, aligns with international legal definitions of genocide, which include “deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical or mental destruction of a group, in whole or in part.”
