Israel on Thursday faced accusations of “acts of genocide” and exhibiting “signs of ethnic cleansing” in its military offensive in Gaza, charges Israeli authorities dismissed as “lies”.
They are the latest in a series of accusations levelled against Israel — and denied by the country — during its 14-month war against Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
In a report focused on water, New York-based Human Rights Watch detailed what it called deliberate efforts by Israeli authorities “of a systematic nature” to deprive Gazans of water, which had “likely caused thousands of deaths… and will likely continue to cause deaths”.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Since then, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 45,129 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
“Human Rights Watch is once more spreading its blood libels in order to promote its anti-Israel propaganda,” the foreign ministry said.
“Since the beginning of the war, Israel has facilitated the continuous flow of water and humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite operating under constant attacks” from Hamas.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, denied using water as a “weapon” and said “three water lines from Israel are active” in Gaza.
Devastation
The United States said it disagreed with HRW findings.
“When it comes to a determination of something like genocide, the legal standard is just incredibly high, and so the finding in this scenario we just disagree with,” said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel.
In a separate report on Thursday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) accused Israel of causing widespread devastation in Gaza and noted “signs of ethnic cleansing” in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Israel in early October began a major military operation in Gaza’s north, which it said aimed to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
MSF Secretary General Christopher Lockyear said what the group’s medical teams “have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza”.
“Signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation — including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment — are undeniable,” he said.
The foreign ministry slammed what it said was a “fabricated” MSF report.
“The report is entirely false and misleading. Israel does not target medical teams or individuals uninvolved in terrorist activities,” it said.
The HRW report detailed what it said was the intentional damaging of water and sanitation infrastructure, as well as the blocking of fuel for generators.
The report concluded that in doing so, “Israeli authorities intentionally inflicted on the Palestinian population in Gaza ‘conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.'”
This, it said, amounted to the war crime of “extermination” and to “acts of genocide”.
‘Malnourished and dehydrated’
Israel’s foreign ministry said that, in addition to water pipelines, it has also ensured that “water pumping and desalination facilities… remain operational”.
HRW stopped short of saying Israel was committing outright “genocide”.
Under international law, proving genocide requires evidence of specific intent, which experts say is very difficult.
HRW pointed to a statement by then-defence minister Yoav Gallant as suggestive of Israel’s intent. In October 2023, he declared a “complete siege” on Gaza and said: “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed.”
Israel is facing a case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice last December, arguing the war in Gaza breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, an accusation Israel has strongly denied.
In November the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for Gallant, and also for Mohammed Deif, military chief of Hamas.
Israel told the court it will appeal the warrants.
The HRW report, drawn up over nearly a year, is based on interviews with dozens of Gazans and health officials, as well as satellite imagery, photographs, videos and data analysis.
The lack of water left Gazans vulnerable to diseases and complications, such as infected wounds and the inability to heal due to dehydration, HRW said.
One emergency room nurse cited in the report said they were forced to decide “not to resuscitate children who were severely malnourished and dehydrated”.
