Israeli authorities are systematically depriving Palestinians in Gaza of access to clean water, the organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a report published on Tuesday, April 28, accusing Israel of carrying out a campaign of "collective punishment" in the devastated Palestinian enclave.

First modification: 04/28/2026 - 17:41 Last modification: 04/28/2026 - 17:42

The extensive destruction of civilian water infrastructure in Gaza, coupled with the obstruction of access, constitutes "an integral part of Israel's genocide," declared the medical organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

In a report titled 'Water as a weapon', MSF noted that "engineered shortages" occur alongside the "direct killing of civilians, the devastation of health facilities (and) the destruction of homes."

Taken together, this amounts to "the deliberate imposition of destructive and inhuman living conditions on the Palestinian population in Gaza," warned the report, based on testimonies and data collected by MSF in 2024 and 2025.

The MSF report cited data from the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank indicating that Israel has destroyed or damaged almost 90 percent of the water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza.

"The Israeli authorities know that without water, life ends. However, they have deliberately and systematically wiped out the water infrastructure in Gaza, while constantly blocking the entry of water-related supplies," MSF emergency manager Claire San Filippo said in a statement.

'Designed' shortages

"Desalination plants, wells, pipelines and sewage systems have been left inoperative or inaccessible," he noted.

The organization documented several incidents in which its clearly marked water trucks and wells were attacked or destroyed.

"Palestinians have been injured and killed simply trying to access water," San Filippo said.

The charity claimed that, apart from local authorities, it was the largest producer and main distributor of drinking water in Gaza.

In March, it supplied more than 5.3 million liters of water a day, covering the minimum needs of more than 407,000 people, or a fifth of Gaza's population.

However, throughout the war, "Israeli military movement orders have blocked our teams from accessing areas where we had provided water to hundreds of thousands of people," the MSF statement said.

MSF stated that a third of its requests to introduce critical water and sanitation supplies – including desalination units, pumps, water tanks, insect repellent, chlorine and other water treatment chemicals – had been “rejected or left unanswered”.

San Filippo also warned that water deprivation, "combined with dire living conditions, extreme overcrowding and a collapsed healthcare system, create a perfect storm for the spread of disease."

MSF called on Israel to "immediately restore water to the population to the required levels in Gaza."

He urged Israel's allies to "use their influence to pressure Israel to stop impeding humanitarian access."

Despite a ceasefire in October that largely halted the Gaza war launched after the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023, the territory remains mired in daily violence as Israel continues to launch deadly attacks on the besieged enclave. Both the Israeli army and Hamas accuse each other of breaking the truce.

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