Israel’s cutting water supplies to Gaza tantamount to collective punishment: Hamas

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Hamas said the Israeli regime had completely cut off drinking water supplies to people in Gaza City and areas to the north of Gaza.

It added that many in Gaza have been forced to drink unsafe water following the bombardment of water supply facilities by the Israeli regime.

The group called on the United Nations and other international organizations to act to stop the collective punishment of people in Gaza.

It also urged those organizations to force the Israeli regime to reconnect water to the territory and to allow humanitarian aid to reach all people in Gaza, including around 900,000 people living in Gaza City and other areas in the north of the coastal sliver.

Britain’s Guardian daily newspaper said in a report over the weekend that almost 95% of the people in Gaza, a territory of more than 2.3 million on the Mediterranean Sea, currently face shortage of drinking water.

The report warned the situation could pose serious risks to the health of people in Gaza as it noted that many had already been hard hit by diseases caused by drinking unsafe water from underground sources.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate more than a month after the Israeli regime started its brutal aggression against the area.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and another 30,000 have been either injured or remain unaccounted for as a result of Israeli airstrikes and ground offensives in Gaza.

The attacks began on October 7 hours after Hamas launched an operation into the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine near Gaza, killing some 1,400 Israeli settlers and military forces.