NEW YORK: Israel must permit clean water and fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip “before it is too late,” a United Nations expert warned on Friday, as he called on Israel to halt using water as a “weapon of war.”
Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation said as per global law, intentionally depriving the civilians of the conditions needed to sustain normal life with the target of bringing about their destruction is classified as an act of termination and a crime against humanity.
The UN experts said that every hour that passes with Israel stopping the provision of clean drinking water in Gaza, in shameless breach of global law, puts people at risk of dying of thirst and different diseases related to the lack of clean drinking water.
Israel Must Halt Using Water as ‘Weapon of War: UN Expert
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East stated that the entire exhaustion of fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip, and the subsequent lack of power, is having shocking effects, including the total breakdown of water supplies, sanitation services, sewage-management systems, communications networks and health facilities.
He said that consciously stopping supplies required for clean water from entering Gaza violates both global humanitarian and human rights law. According to the UN, around 70 percent of people in the Gaza Strip are having to drink contaminated water to survive.
UNRWA has also warned that humanitarian operations will start to collapse this week due to lack of fuel in the Gaza Strip. It is needed to power numerous sides of the aid effort, including desalination processes, healthcare equipment, electricity generation, and the trucks used to provide the vital aid that arrives at the Rafah border crossing to Gaza.
