Shortages have triggered a disease surge in the enclave, Doctors Without Borders says in report
Displaced Palestinians fill water containers on April 18, 2026 in Gaza City, Gaza. © Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
Israel has used access to water as a weapon and a form of “collective punishment” against Palestinians in Gaza, according to a report by international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Israel has rejected the claims as baseless.
The organization said in a report released Tuesday that Israel has “engineered” water scarcity in the strip, creating “conditions incompatible with human dignity and survival.” Access to water, sanitation and hygiene has been “severely undermined” since the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza in October 2023, it stated.
The
report highlights a sharp rise in water-shortage-related diseases,
including diarrhea, skin infections, lice, and infected wounds.
Additionally, the lack of clean water and sanitation is also worsening
malnutrition and severely affecting mental health.
Gaza has no
natural freshwater sources, relying instead on groundwater and seawater,
both of which require treatment. Much of the infrastructure, including
desalination plants, boreholes, pipelines, and sewage systems, has been
rendered inoperable or inaccessible, according to MSF.
Amid the collapse of the public system, MSF has become the largest
non-governmental water producer in Gaza, pumping and desalinating
groundwater through mobile units and distributing it by truck to
affected areas. The report noted that multiple MSF trucks have been
attacked by Israeli forces.
The minimum humanitarian threshold is
about 15 liters of water per person per day, including 6 liters for
drinking and 9 liters for domestic use. In Gaza, people are receiving
this bare survival level at best, according to UNICEF, with many unable
to access even the minimum amount of safe drinking water.
Israel’s
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT)
rejected the report in a series of posts on X on Tuesday, calling the
claims “baseless” and “factually incorrect.” They said
that Israel is facilitating, not restricting, water access, citing the
operation of four supply lines, infrastructure repairs, and the
provision of fuel and electricity for water systems. They accused MSF of
biased reporting and operational shortcomings.
Despite a ceasefire agreed last October, Israeli strikes and
gunfire continue across Gaza, with over 700 Palestinians killed since
the truce began, according to the UN. The overall death toll since
October 2023 has exceeded 72,000, according to Gaza’s health
authorities.