Water Fact - August 25, 2025 Wait wait wait wait wait

On August 21, Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) issued a strongly worded press release about Israel’s use of water as a weapon of war.   In the words of MSF manager Ozan Agbas, “As with food, supplies and health care, the Israeli Ministry is restricting access to water to minimal levels.  By refraining from cutting off water entirely they allow plausible deniability while choking Palestinians of their means of survival.”    

 

What does this mean in practice?  

  

• Israel is blocking the imports of items needed to repair smashed water infrastructure and treat polluted water.  Of the ten water import requests MSF has made since June 2024, only one has been approved.  As a result over 60 percent of Gaza's 196 publicly and NGO-run desalination plants no longer function and Israel will not allow new water treatment units to enter the Gaza Strip.  

 

• Israel has refused to allow crews access to repair two of the three water pipelines taking water from Israel into Gaza, which are losing 70 percent of the water they carry due to leaks caused by military attacks.

  

• Given the damage to the water infrastructure, what little drinkable water there is in Gaza must be trucked to population centers.  But the incessant bombardments and forced displacements have made it difficult for the trucks to reach people desperate for water, even in the so-called ’safe zones.’    To secure water, Gaza’s residents are forced to walk long distances in the intense heat, lugging heavy containers, to water distribution points which are constantly changing their location.   What little water they obtain is not sufficient for their daily needs.  The elderly and incapacitated who are unable to reach the water distribution centers can be entirely deprived of potable water.

  

As Israeli tanks proceed to demolish Gaza City and its surroundings, the only hope for survival confronting up to one million Palestinians is mass forced displacement to the horrendously overcrowded south of the Gaza Strip, where shelter, food and water are already in drastically short supply.  And so the genocide advances.  

Netanyahu Declares War on the World, Dragging Israel and Global Jewry Toward the Abyss

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not satisfied with Israel's seven war fronts over the last two years. He seems very determined to declare war on the entire world, and in the process drag the world's Jews, along with the State of Israel, into the abyss.

This week, it was the Australian prime minister's turn. A sharp diplomatic confrontation broke out between the two countries in the wake of Anthony Albanese's decision to recognize a Palestinian state. Netanyahu posted several deranged messages to Albanese on his X account, noting that history would remember Albanese as a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned his country's Jewish population.

Albanese has not betrayed Israel or Australia's Jews. As usual, Netanyahu is mirroring his own faults. He is the weak leader incapable of deciding anything, he is the one undermining Israel's standing in the world, and he is the person abandoning his own people. Netanyahu equates any criticism of his policies with antisemitism, thereby increasing hatred of Jews around the world. Statements like the one he just made do not decrease pressure on Australia's Jewish community – who are suffering from a wave of antisemitism – on the contrary.

Read the article from Haaretz, via Portside, here.

Statement by Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory

East Jerusalem, 22 August 2025

Today’s confirmation of famine in Gaza governorate isn’t just another wake-up call. It is the blaring siren after months of alarms, and it’s a signal of what may soon engulf other parts of the Strip.   

This catastrophe is entirely human-made. Despite repeated warnings, and tireless efforts to avert it, the political will to ensure unimpeded humanitarian operations by the UN and NGOs has tragically fallen short. 

Further escalation of the war will lead to more forced displacement, violence, and widespread destruction. It will further destroy remnants of health, water, sanitation and hygiene systems, and increase disease outbreaks, worsening the conditions that drive acute malnutrition.  

I call for the facilitation of swift and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid and services and commercial supplies across the Gaza Strip through all crossings and land routes, including directly to the north and to Gaza city. 

I reiterate the urgent appeal for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. I call again for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and those arbitrarily detained, who must all be treated humanely. 

Famine must be stopped at all costs. Ending it is a race against time.