London, 24 August 2024 (TDI): Israeli attacks on Palestinian water supplies accounted for a quarter of all water-related violence in 2023, according to the Water Conflict Chronology tracker.
Throughout the year, settlers — often sanctioned by or operating in tandem with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)— regularly carried out targeted attacks on water infrastructure across the occupied West Bank.
This included the destruction or contamination of wells, pumps and irrigation systems in more than ninety instances last year, the tracker found by monitoring news and United Nations reports as well as eyewitness accounts.
In September, settlers from Shaarei Tikva used wastewater to poison Palestinian olive groves and crops east of Qalqilya.
An attack in November saw settlers demolish houses as well as a school’s water tanks and pipeline, in an attempt to make the area unlivable for Palestinians.
As well as settler attacks, Israel’s invasion of Gaza has led to the destruction of most of the water infrastructure in the occupied enclave.
Also Read More: Gaza Ceasefire Agreement ‘Now is in Sight’: US Envoy
Israel also targeted energy sites that supplied a major wastewater treatment plant that served one million people in Gaza.
Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute, an independent research and policy organization that established the conflict tracker in 1985, said that there was a massive increase in violence over water in 2023, widely around the world, but particularly in the Middle East.
