Deadly Israeli attacks kill more Palestinians near Gaza aid centre
By Edna Mohamed and Maziar Motamedi AJ Published On 14 Jul 2025 Additions FT, HRW
Children among more than 700 people killed while waiting to get water
The Government Media Office in Gaza says attacks on people waiting in line for water have killed more than 700 Palestinians as part of a “systematic thirst war”.
The Israeli army has targeted 112 freshwater filling points and destroyed 720 water wells, putting them out of service. This has deprived more than 1.25 million people of access to clean water, the office said in a statement.
“We affirm that this racist policy constitutes a full-fledged war crime under the Geneva Conventions, and a grave violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law.”
The office said Israel has prevented the entry of 12 million litres of fuel monthly, the amount necessary to operate the minimum number of water wells, sewage treatment plants, garbage collection vehicles and other vital services. This ban has “caused near-total paralysis of water and sewage networks and worsened the spread of diseases, especially among children”, the office said.
On March 9, Israel cut off the last power line feeding the last water desalination plant in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, halting the production of large quantities of drinking water and further deepening the enclave’s water crisis.
At least 28 people killed across Gaza today, including Palestinians gathered near aid centre.
Israeli forces continue bombarding Gaza a day after killing 95 Palestinians across the Strip.
Criticisms of Israel’s plan to set up an internment camp in Gaza are growing, with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid saying it would amount to a “concentration camp” if Palestinians there are not allowed to leave.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 58,026 people and wounded 138,520, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israeli settlers set up tents, uproot olive trees in West Bank
Israeli settlers have set up tents and uprooted hundreds of olive trees in al-Maniya village, southeast of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
Head of the village council, Zayed Kawazba, told Wafa news agency that a group of settlers stormed al-Qarn in the centre of al-Maniya, set up four tents and uprooted approximately 1,500 olive saplings belonging to families from the al-Motawer and Jabarin clans.
In the first half of 2025, settlers established 23 new outposts, with full protection from the Israeli army.
During the same period, settlers carried out 2,153 recorded attacks, killing four Palestinians.
From HRW Report: 'Israel’s Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza'
Water Deprivation as a Deliberate Act
In the days after the Hamas-led attacks by Palestinian armed groups in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, senior Israeli officials, including former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and former Energy Minister and current Defense Minister Israel Katz made public statements expressing the government’s aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of water.
Since that time, Israeli authorities have continued to call for the collective punishment of the population of Gaza, including through cutting off water and other items essential to life. While Israeli authorities have also made statements calling for measures to be taken to specifically target Hamas and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, authorities’ actions have amounted to cutting off or restricting water and other items essential to life to the whole of the population of Gaza. These measures persisted after the ICJ ruling in January 2024, and subsequent ICJ rulings, ordered Israeli authorities to end the risk of violations of the Genocide Convention. On August 5, for example, Israeli Finance Minister and Minister in the Ministry of Defense Bezalel Smotrich reiterated that Israel would be justified in depriving the civilian population of Gaza of water.
Israel’s Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza
Summary
December 19, 2024 News Release
Israel’s Crime of Extermination, Acts of Genocide in Gaza
People pull plastic water containers down a muddy street amid destroyed buildings
Since October 2023, Israeli authorities have deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of water required for survival in the Gaza Strip.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a person needs between 50 and 100 liters of water per day in order to ensure that their “most basic needs are met.” In protracted emergency situations, the minimum amount of water required is 15 liters of water per person per day for drinking and washing. Yet, between October 2023 and September 2024, Israeli authorities’ actions have deprived the majority of the more than 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza of access to even that bare minimum amount of water, which has contributed to death and widespread disease.For many in Gaza, much or all of the water they have had access to is not suitable for drinking.
“If we can't find drinkable water, we drink the sea water,” one father displaced to a school in Rafah told Human Rights Watch in December 2023. “It happened to me many times when I had to drink the sea water. You don’t understand how much we are suffering.”
