Mohammad Akmal Khan,a Pakistani writer,responded sharply to the recent claim by Benjamin Netanyahu,the Israeli Prime Minister,which appeared intended to provoke street protests in Iran over its seasonal water crisis. Writing exclusively for the Mehr media group’s international desk, Khan highlighted Netanyahu’s hypocrisy.
In his article titled “Netanyahu’s Lies: Promises of Water, Shedding Blood”, Khan wrote:
“Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest global performance was less a moral narrative and more a blood-stained act of hypocrisy. Under the luminous lights of a studio, the Israeli prime Minister portrayed himself as Iran’s savior, promising to rescue ‘countless lives’ from water scarcity. He dramatized Iran’s water shortage statistics like an embellished prophecy and spoke of displacement for 50 million people while praising ‘Israel’s solutions’ for a country it openly considers an enemy. Yet just seventy kilometers away at that moment, children in Gaza were dying with cracked lips from thirst-because the same government claiming it could save foreigners from drought had deliberately cut off their water supply.”
“As these words circulated online, children in Gaza were at best drinking salty and bacteria-contaminated water-if they had any at all. In parts of this besieged strip, safe drinking water had not flowed through pipes for months. Those pipes now lie broken beneath rubble that once nourished bombed neighborhoods. According to reports by Gaza’s ministry of Health, UNICEF, and UNRWA, recent months have seen over 315 deaths caused by lack of clean water combined with famine due to siege conditions-with more than half being children under five.”
“This cruelty is neither accidental nor due to mismanagement; it is official policy. Two days after Netanyahu’s remarks, former israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced a ‘total blockade’ on Gaza: ‘No electricity-no food-no fuel-everything is sealed off.’ While he did not specifically mention water in his statement,the practical implications were clear: The Israeli government shut down Mekorot-a state-owned company that delivers approximately 10 million liters daily to Gaza-effectively imposing artificial drought on one of Earth’s most densely populated areas.”
“According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), by December 2023 average daily water availability per person in Gaza dropped below three liters-a fifth of WHO minimum survival standards. By March 2024 residents in northern Gaza survived on less than one liter per day-and frequently enough undrinkable-their main wells destroyed or heavily damaged by bombing along with desalination plants and over 50 kilometers of pipeline destroyed; fuel shortages further disabled pumping stations.”
“Under international humanitarian law these acts constitute clear war crimes. Article 54 of Protocol I additional to Geneva Conventions prohibits attacking or rendering useless objects indispensable for civilian survival-including critical water infrastructure-which obviously applies here. The International Committee of the Red cross also regards depriving civilians access to water as war crimes when used as tools for starvation or forced displacement.”
“In April 2024 Human Rights Watch released its report titled ‘Desperate Hungry Besieged’, concluding Israel weaponizes deprivation including withholding food and potable water resulting in widespread diseases indiscriminately killing children and elderly civilians alike. UNICEF described this as ‘an imminent death sentence hanging over Gaza’s children.’”
The most devastating figures are measured not just in liters but human lives lost: “UNICEF assessments from March 2025 reported diarrheal disease surged by 45% among children under five compared with pre-conflict levels. The Palestinian Ministry of Health recorded at least 120 infant deaths attributed directly to dehydration or contaminated-water illnesses within just one year since siege escalation.”
The story behind these numbers is heartbreakingly personal:
Mariam, age six from Khan Yunis , died January 2025 after consuming rainwater stored on her rooftop tank due to lack (a safe bottled option). Her mother told Al Jazeera: “She cried all night from stomach pain… By morning she could no longer breathe.” In Beit Lahia seven decades old Hassan, who survived four Israeli attacks earlier during escalating conflict died as kidney failure went untreated-the dialysis centre ceased operations amid sterilized-water scarcity.
Kamal Adwan Hospital medical staff confirmed 70% of dialysis sessions canceled recently across northern Gaza due largely same issue.
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