Israeli attacks on Palestinian water supplies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip accounted for a quarter of all water-related violence in 2023, as armed conflicts over dwindling resources surged globally, according to new research.
…“There was a massive uptick in violence over water in 2023, widely around the world, but especially in the Middle East.”
Water conflicts in the Middle East accounted for 38% of last year’s total, driven in large part by attacks on Palestinian water supplies and infrastructure in the occupied territories, according to the tracker, which monitors news reports, eyewitness accounts, UN reports and other conflict databases.
Israeli settlers and/or armed forces contaminated and destroyed water wells, pumps and irrigation systems on 90 occasions during 2023 – the equivalent of more than seven water-related acts of violence every month.
In Gaza, the water situation was already dire before Israel launched its war in retaliation for the deadly attack by Hamas on 7 October, after which much of the water and wastewater infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed, damaged or left unusable.
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