Translated by Andrea Solazzo
Human Rights Watch recently released a report publicly and bluntly accusing Israel of acts of genocide and extermination for deliberately depriving the people of the Gaza Strip of water.
The report on the 19 December 2024, focused on one key element: the water deprivation to which Israel continues to subject the Gaza Strip, which would then lead to the deaths of thousands of people.
On the 9 December 1948, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the latter is defined as “each of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such:
1. Killing of members of the group
2. Serious injury to the physical or mental integrity of members of the group
3. Deliberately subjecting the group to conditions of life intended to cause its physical destruction, in whole or in part
4. Measures aimed at preventing births within the group
5. Forcible transfer of children from one group to another.”
What Human Rights Watch insists on is point 3, which is the one highlighting subjecting a group to living conditions intended to cause their destruction, and point 2, concerning serious injury to physical and mental integrity.
In this case, then, Israel is creating conditions in the Gaza Strip under which it is virtually impossible to survive. Using, among other things, the use of hunger and thirst as a method of warfare, which constitutes a war crime.
In this regard, the World Health Organization estimates that a person requires 50 to 100 liters of water per day to meet basic needs (drinking, washing, cooking).
Between October 2023 and September 2024, the Israeli authorities deprived, continuously, the population of the Gaza Strip of water, thus favoring their death. Concretely, the water available to Palestinians is 2-9 liters per day. Washing their hands for 30 seconds requires almost 4 liters.
Not only dehydration, but also disease and malnutrition are outcomes of the lack of water. Since the beginning of the war there have been 670,000 cases of acute diarrhea, 132,000 of jaundice.
And it is not only the blockade of humanitarian aid, thus preventing the entry of drinking water into the Gaza Strip, but also the deliberate damage caused to water and sanitation infrastructure. Damage caused by targeted attacks, the targeting therefore was not random.
In order to speak of genocide, however, there must be evidence of intent and will to cause these harms. The multiple statements moved by leading Israeli figures can certainly constitute a demonstration of will. Statements that only support and confirm that what Israel is causing in the Gaza Strip can be called, in no uncertain terms, genocide. Why are we so afraid to say that? Why are we afraid to admit that we are witnessing another genocide?
On October 9, 2023, then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered “a complete siege on Gaza, there will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything is closed.”
It was Oct. 11, 2023, when then energy minister (now Defence Minister) Israel Katz confirmed and echoed Gallant's call to cut off electricity, water, fuel and, a few days later, humanitarian aid.
Moreover, on August 5, 2024, the Israeli finance minister said that Israel was justified in depriving the people of Gaza of water.
From statements it immediately turned to actions, with unprecedented speed and cruelty.
The water supply from Israel was cut off on October 7, 2023, subsequently the electricity supply also suffered the same fate. Electricity is essential for the operation of water pumps, desalination plants, and sanitation infrastructure. Humanitarian aid has been blocked since even before October 7, 2023, in fact about 500 trucks were entering Gaza every day providing humanitarian aid, while in the period from May to August 2024 the number dropped to 33 trucks per day on average.
Some attacks then killed workers trying to fix the various water systems.
Exacerbating the picture is the fact that Israel, as an occupying power, would have a duty to provide for the welfare of the occupied population and ensure that all needs are met and, in addition, should not attack, destroy, remove, or render unusable items essential to the survival of the civilian population (including sanitation facilities).
In conclusion, crucial are the words of Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch, that “governments should not contribute to the crimes Israeli officials are committing in Gaza, including crimes against humanity and acts of genocide.”
The problem, unfortunately, is that we speak only in the conditional tense: should and would.
Mondo Internazionale APS - Riproduzione Riservata ® 2024
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L'Autore
Giorgia Milan
Giorgia Milan, classe 1998, ha conseguito una laurea triennale in “scienze politiche, relazioni internazionali e governo delle amministrazioni”, con una tesi riguardo la condizione femminile in Afghanistan, e successivamente una laurea magistrale in “Human rights and multi-level governance”, con una tesi riguardo la condizione delle donne rifugiate nel contesto dell’attuale guerra Russo-Ucraina, il tutto presso l’Università degli studi di Padova.
I suoi interessi principali sono i diritti umani, in particolare i diritti delle donne. È proprio il forte interesse per questi temi che l’ha spinta a intraprendere un tirocinio universitario presso il Centro Donna di Padova, durante il quale ha avuto la possibilità di approcciarsi al mondo della scrittura e della creazione di contenuti riguardanti la violenza di genere e le discriminazioni.
In Mondo Internazionale Post Giorgia Milan è un'autrice per l'area tematica di Diritti Umani.
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Israele Gaza #genocide human rights watch war crime