Human Rights Watch (HRW): Israel Using Water as Weapon of War Against Palestinians in Gaza Strip

[C0RI0LANUS]

Palestinians struggling to collect drinkable water in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. (Photo: Hatem Khaled / Reuters)

Calling it an “act of genocide,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that since October 2023 Israeli authorities have deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of clean water required for survival in the Gaza Strip. Full report with graphs and photos linked at bottom.

“If we can't find drinkable water, we drink the sea water,” a displaced Palestinian father testified to HRW. “It happened to me many times when I had to drink the sea water. You don’t understand how much we are suffering.”

Moreover, for years ecologists have accused Israel of using sewage as a weapon against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to spread disease and misery. See report linked at bottom.


A Gaza residential street is inundated by sewage. (Photo: Rosa Schiano / International Solidarity Movement)

Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours the IDF killed 32 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including children, and at least four in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.


Palestinians mourn over the body of loved ones killed after an IDF strike at Al-Ahli Arab hospital (AKA the Baptist Hospital) in Gaza City. (Photo: Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)

During this 14-month pogrom, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that a minimum of 45,129 Palestinians have been killed and 107,338 wounded or maimed, including non-combatant women and children. The number of deaths is likely to be far higher as many bodies are believed to remain buried underneath the rubble across the devastated Strip. The IDF claims that 17,000 of the deceased were militants. The retribution ratio for the 7 Oct 2023 raid that killed 1,200 Israelis is 40:1. The 250 innocent Israelis were seized to conduct a prisoner swap for any number of the thousands of Palestinians being held incommunicado without trial or hearing in security detention by the IDF. See full report linked at bottom.

This week Amnesty International projected “End Gaza Genocide” on the EU HQ building in 24 languages:

Link to tweet

In a report released earlier this month, Amnesty International concluded that Israel’s devastating war on Gaza meets the legal threshold for genocide. Apologists for the brutal Likud regime have feebly attempted to parse the language of this damning report, but as the Immortal Bard wrote: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Amnesty has called on EU leaders meeting to halt all arms transfers to Israel, ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and ensure justice and accountability for Israeli crimes.


(The above photo courtesy of the Washington Post was verified as genuine by snopes.com)

The avuncular-looking Avi Dichter must have heard your plea, young lady.


Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter (Likud) said: "We're rolling out Nakba 2023." (Photo: Abir Sultan / Flash90)

The IDF certainly has, Sir.

Is Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman, the government of Ireland, or US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) incapable of describing ethnic cleansing or genocide-- or are they antisemitic for calling out the patently and blazing obvious?

Fortunately, not everyone in the world is blind to suffering, especially us at Democratic Underground.




For years, the US Democratic Party position for peace in the Middle East was based on crafting a Two-State Solution.









Sources:

https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/12/19/extermination-and-acts-genocide/israel-deliberately-depriving-palestinians-gaza

https://theecologist.org/2013/nov/02/gaza-sewage-weapon-war

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/anatomy-of-a-genocide-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territory-occupied-since-1967-to-human-rights-council-advance-unedited-version-a-hrc-55/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a79363-report-special-committee-investigate-israeli-practices-affecting

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-12/ty-article/israeli-security-cabinet-member-calls-north-gaza-evacuation-nakba-2023/0000018b-c2be-dea2-a9bf-d2be7b670000

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/19/live-israel-kills-14-in-northern-gaza-as-it-continues-to-deny-un-access

https://amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/israel-opt-horrifying-cases-of-torture-and-degrading-treatment-of-palestinian-detainees-amid-spike-in-arbitrary-arrests/

https://www.snopes.com/

[Grins]

1. Oh, good! Another reason for me to hate Israel!

And by “Israel,” I mean Netanyahu and his murderous Likud!

[C0RI0LANUS]

2. Grins, of course we know that. Nobody at DU hates Israel because of the loathsome "Crime Minister."

That would be tantamount to a Canadian saying he or she hates America because of the odious Donald Trumpf.

Thanks to these two right-wing, brutal, and inhuman despots, they have turned their countries into Pariah States, like Afghanistan and North Korea.

Current Pariah States: Dark Blue
Former Pariah States: Light Blue




See list at: https://www.worlddata.info/pariahstates.php

[Mosby]

3. The "Retribution Ratio" is a fabricated metric designed to demonize Israel

The retribution ratio for the 7 Oct 2023 raid that killed 1,200 Israelis is 40:1. The 250 innocent Israelis were seized to conduct a prisoner swap for any number of the thousands of Palestinians being held incommunicado without trial or hearing in security detention by the IDF.

The only examples in law that speak about a "retribution ratio" is in sentencing guidelines, HRW is using this in a completely novel way to demonize Israel.

Look at the language they chose to use, calling a ultra violent massacre a "raid". I think we are all aware at this point of the astonishing brutality and psychopathic behavior evinced by the perpetrators of these horrific crimes committed on 10/7.

HRW should explain how they know that these Hamas psychos took hostages for prisoner swaps, because we know some were taken to be sex slaves. Moreover, this criminal gang has rejected multiple offers to release the hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian criminals, all but one has been refused, and nothing on the horizon indicates that Hamas has any intention of releasing hostages, and may not have any control anyway, because other criminal elements in the Palestinian OTs maintain physical control of the hostages.

The hostages need to be released, and Hamas needs to surrender and give up its weapons.

[Aussie105]

7. Sounds to me like your life and thinking stopped on 10/7.

Everything that has happened since is justified by this one act of brutality.

Every act of brutality by Israel since then is fully justified by 10/7, right?
And it will be, forevermore.

When you withhold food, water, medical supplies, habitat, safety, etc indiscriminately from a population it is genocide.
When the deaths are deliberate and indiscriminate, it is genocide.

But yeah, 10/7, you can't get past that, right?
Bibi and his hardliners love you! Rest of the world, not so much.

[Mosby]

9. Here's a Hamas produced video of them digging up water pipes

To use for missles. They shoot these indiscriminately into southern Israel, every one is a war crime.

Link to tweet

This is why they have to bring in water by truck.

[C0RI0LANUS]

4. The Mathematics of Military Power

During the Vietnam War, SECDEF Robert McNamara stressed the importance of "body counts."





USSECDEF Robert McNamara testifying about the "body counts" of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters.

The US military kill ratio against the enemy in SE Asia was 10:1. The IDF kill ratio in Gaza
is 40:1. Human Rights Watch did not create this term.




Link:

https://medium.com/@toddstrasser/the-kill-ratio-cd6e51f56c2d

[AloeVera]

5. Are we waiting for them to start dropping like flies?

In one month, under current inhumane conditions, thousands more could die from lack of water, food, medical aid and from diseases like cholera and hepatitis due to lack of clean water and sanitation, pneumonia from lack of shelter - even polio, since there are still around 10,000 kids in the besieged north who did not get the second dose due to a refusal to provide the necessary safe corridors.

The HRW report focuses on the restriction of water and finds a systematic restriction of water supplies. I'd like someone to explain to me how the following actions relate to self-defence:
- solar panel arrays that powered 4 out of 6 wastewater treatment plants destroyed by IDF military bulldozers
- out of 54 water reservoirs, 11 completely destroyed and 20 more damaged
- the 3 pipelines supplying water were cut by Israel and allowed to only partially reopen; same with the 3 desalination plants
- a new pipeline built by UAE bombed/damaged
- a video on social media showed IDF combat engineers filming themselves blowing up a water reservoir in Rafah

Clearly none of this is related to Israel's need to "defend itself". Clearly what this is about is intentionally "inflicting on Palestinians conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part". Ergo, GEN-O-CIDE.

What are we waiting for???

[AloeVera]

6. Wow, thanks! Sure hope our pro-Israel friends here and in the U.S. Congress will find the time to do some reading.

A lot of inconvenient truths might make for uncomfortable reading. But this IS a reality-based community and we want facts and truth, and we all believe all lives matter and are equal, and all people are entitled to the right to life and human rights. Above all, we would do everything in our power to stop a GEN-O-CIDE - that goes without saying!

Right?

[C0RI0LANUS]

8. Hi Aloe Vera. I'm glad you appreciated my OP. This man-made tragedy is just appalling.

Here is a terrific resource that may be helpful in analyzing members of the US Congress and how they vote. Make it a favorite:

https://trackaipac.com/

You will see:

NY Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez = 0 AIPAC dollars.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders = 0 AIPAC dollars.

[lapucelle]

10. I wonder if there are any groups of doctor's, front line healthcare workers,

infectious disease researcher's & scientists willing to get involved.

Love the giant pictures!

[JohnSJ]

12. What did they except to happen after October 7? What did they expect to happen after they refused to lay their arms

down and release all hostages?

From the 1967 war where they tried to eradicate every Jew in Israel, and resulted in the Khartoum Resolution's "three no's"

No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.

When negotiations did open with Egypt and Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood, which was the foundation for Hamas today, was behind the assassination of Sadat.

With the periodic wars against Israel through the years, when you have somebody who has vowed to destroy, and at every opportunity demonstrated that threat, what did they expect would happen?

Our nominee for President, VP Harris, vowed for a ceasefire, which hamas has continued to violate, rebuild Gaza, and getting back to the negotiating table working toward a two-state solution, Representative Talib in all her wisdom, who refused to condemn the October 7 attacks, refused to endorse Harris for President, and encouraged other in the American Muslim community to do likewise, along with "protesters" against Israel, who contributed to our loss in every swing state, by either voting third party, or not voting, they will now have to deal with our sociopath soon to be in the white house, we will see how that works out for them.

[lapucelle]

13. Didn't Hamas post a promotional video showing how they destroyed water delivery infrastructure

so they could use the pipes to make weapons?

• Israel has been giving its own water to Palestinians, over and above the supplement agreed on in the Oslo Accords—an international treaty signed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

• Israel has given the West Bank 60-70 mcm per year, three times more than the agreed amount of 28.6 mcm per year, to supplement the West Bank’s own supplies of fresh water.

• Israel continues to pump 5 mcm into Gaza annually, as agreed on in the Oslo Accords.

• Israel built two desalination plants in Gaza. When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it gave the entire water system it had developed for Israeli settlements to the Palestinians, including 25 wells, storage reservoirs, and a well-developed transmission system.

• Israel began treating sewage from Gaza in 2017 after the territory's treatment facility was shut down.

https://www.standwithus.com/factsheet-waterfactsintheconflict
https://www.standwithus.com/factsheet-waterfactsintheconflict

[C0RI0LANUS]

11. Hi lapucelle, how are you today? Pictures do say a thousand words. Check out my Ukraine OP if you get a chance.

In addition to the UN, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have been trying to help the Palestinians in Gaza during this pogrom at these locations:



MSF detailed the systematic IDF attacks on the Palestinian medical infrastructure here:

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/sites/default/files/documents/MSF_REPORT_Gaza%20Life%20in%20a%20death%20trap%20Report_20241229.pdf

In the other Nakba, Vladimir Putin mercilessly ejected MSF volunteers helping poor, sickly Russians. "Pride goeth before the fall."

Sources:

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/our-response-israel-gaza-war

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/17/doctors-without-borders-halts-russian-operations

[lapucelle]

15. Thanks for confirming.

Is the guy with the sleepy eyes and the gaping mouth supposed to be President Biden?

[SunSeeker]

19. Looks like David Gergen, who actually has dementia. Unlike Biden. nt

[lapucelle]

14. One of your sources is a story from 2013 about "sewage as a weapon of war."

Gaza: sewage as a weapon of war
2nd November 2013

Israel to build sewage pipeline to reroute waste from Gaza
JUNE 23, 2019
The solution was approved by Regional Committee for Planning and Building for the Western Negev, in the middle of June.

https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/israel-to-build-sewage-pipeline-to-reroute-waste-from-gaza-593362

[C0RI0LANUS]

16. UNEP: "Environmental Impact of the War on Gaza" (18 Jun 2024)

Excerpted from recent the 18 June 2024 UN Environmental Program report:

“Not only are the people of Gaza dealing with untold suffering from the ongoing war, the significant and growing environmental damage in Gaza risks locking its people into a painful, long recovery. While many questions remain regarding the exact type and quantity of contaminants affecting the environment in Gaza, people are already living with the consequences of conflict-related damage to environmental management systems and pollution today. Water and sanitation have collapsed. Critical infrastructure continues to be decimated. Coastal areas, soil and ecosystems have been severely impacted. All of this is deeply harming people’s health, food security and Gaza’s resilience,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director."


(Photo: JTF)

"Large-scale discharge of untreated wastewater within and from Gaza has been a serious cause of groundwater and marine pollution for many years. During the 2010s, the amount of untreated or partially treated sewage/wastewater flowing from the Gaza Strip into the
Mediterranean Sea increased steadily from 90,000 cubic meters (m³) per day in 2012 to 100,000 m³ per day in 2016 and 110,000 m³ per day in 2018 (UNEP 2020)."


(Photo: Times of Israel)

When the raw sewage from the Gaza Strip finally began to affect Israel's agriculture and environment, Jerusalem paid for a sewage treatment plant in the Gaza Strip. Someone in the thread already cited the date and the source.

Source:

https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/45739/environmental_impact_conflict_Gaza.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

[lapucelle]

17. "Hamas boasted it could use EU-funded pipelines to attack Israel"

[lapucelle]

21. I'll post a response to myself here to help keep the subthreads clear. N/T

[lapucelle]

22. Ibid. N/T

[C0RI0LANUS]

18. Mules are always boasting that their ancestors were horses.

Being pro-peace is not being pro-Hamas and being anti-Likud is not being anti-Israel.

If I could convince the Palestinian muqawama to not use those water pipes to make weapons and release the Israeli hostages, I would.

If I could convince the Likud leadership to stop the Nakba before they reach the 50,000 body count, I would.

As of 23 Dec 2024, the IDF has killed at least 45,317 Palestinians and wounded 107,713 since 7 Oct 2023. The IDF maintains 17,000 of them were militants. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the attacks on 7 Oct 2023 and more than 200 were taken captive.

If I could convince the Likud Party to release thousands of Palestinians being held in security detention, I would.

According to Israeli human rights organization HaMoked between 1 Oct 2023 and 1 Nov 2023, the total number of Palestinians held in administrative detention, without charge or trial, rose from 1,319 to 2,070.


This IDF soldier was filmed viciously grabbing Issa Amro by his neck and throwing him to the ground. (Photo: Lawrence Wright)

Why else would armed Palestinian gangs seize Israeli hostages on 7 Oct 2023? Prisoner swap.

At least two trades took place in Nov 2023 thanks to D/Mossad David Barnea who pushed for it in the cabinet.


And the former D/Mossad, Yossi Cohen, suggests a future prisoner swap deal should be carried out in a single stage. (Photo: Yossi Zeliger / TPS)

As a Democrat and American taxpayer, I do not want to see my hard-earned money sent to an ICC indicted war criminal who has no intention of establishing a two-state solution so Israelis and Palestinians can co-exist, a central Democratic Party tenet.




The American Democratic Party and the Israeli Labor Party must stand together against Likudniks and Republicans on both sides of the Atlantic. That some people on Democratic Underground could defend the Likud Party pogrom in Gaza and not support a two-state solution staggers the imagination.




Sources:

https://amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/israel-mass-incommunicado-detention-torture-palestinians-gaza/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/23/live-israeli-forces-kill-50-people-in-gaza-including-seven-in-tent-attack

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-premier-green-lights-intelligence-chiefs-for-prisoner-swap-talks/3178674

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/384615

[lapucelle]

20. If you already knew that adege, why did you post it in a response to yourself?