Gaza death toll hits 50,933 as 'Israel' weaponizes water
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With over 90% of Gaza’s water infrastructure destroyed and 1.7 million people suffering from waterborne illnesses, health authorities warn of a catastrophic, Israeli-made crisis unfolding.
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Two children wait to get water next to a line of empty jerrycans in an area largely destroyed by the Israeli army's air and ground offensive in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP)
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on the besieged enclave has risen to 50,933, with more than 116,000 others wounded since October 7, 2023.
The latest 24-hour period alone saw 21 Palestinians killed and 64 injured, with many victims still trapped under rubble or unreachable due to the intensity of Israeli strikes.
Since March 18, 2025, Israeli attacks have killed 1,563 Palestinians and injured over 4,000 others, according to the Ministry’s daily update.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Gaza reported that the Israeli military is continuing a scorched-earth campaign in the southern city of Rafah, demolishing residential buildings while also intensifying assaults in northern Gaza — particularly in areas north of Beit Lahia and east of Beit Hanoun.
If your hands are shaking to write about Gaza, remember the shaking little hands of a child there!!!
— Parwiz Hamidi _🇵🇸 (@Palestine001_) April 11, 2025
Do not forget Gaza pic.twitter.com/G248TLRnE0
Civil Defense sources confirmed that 14 people were killed on Friday, including 10 members of a single family, as Israeli artillery and drone strikes pounded multiple areas across the Gaza Strip. Concurrently, several Palestinians were killed and wounded in Khan Younis, Shujaiyya, Jabalia, and al-Nuseirat, while several forcibly displaced Palestinians were injured when Israeli drones targeted a tent shelter in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.
'Israel' accused of weaponizing water in Gaza crisis
In a separate statement, Gaza’s Government Media Office issued an urgent warning over "Israel’s" systematic destruction of Gaza's water infrastructure and resources, accusing "Israel" of weaponizing water access as a deliberate tool of genocide.
According to the report, Israeli forces have deliberately destroyed over 90% of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure, targeted workers, blocked technical teams from conducting repairs, and halted fuel deliveries needed to operate water facilities.
Two critical water lines — which previously supplied over 35,000 cubic meters of water daily to more than 700,000 residents — have been completely cut, while the main desalination plant in Deir al-Balah has been shut down due to power outages caused by Israeli bombardment.
Authorities warn that nearly 800,000 people in the central and southern regions now face extreme dehydration. Health officials report over 1.7 million water-related illnesses, including diarrhea, dysentery, and hepatitis A, and more than 50 deaths, mostly among children, due to dehydration and malnutrition.
In a strongly worded appeal, the office called on the United Nations, international humanitarian agencies, and the ICC to take immediate action to stop what they described as “the use of water as a weapon of war and genocide.” They also urged the ICC Prosecutor to issue arrest warrants for Israeli figures, including the current and former ministers of war, accusing them of violating the Rome Statute and the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures.
“This policy won’t break the will of our people,” the statement read, “but it will stand as undeniable evidence of the occupation’s crimes — and the silence of a world that bears equal responsibility.”
The Palestinian authorities placed full blame for the crisis on "Israel", the United States, and European states they accuse of enabling the war — namely the UK, Germany, and France — warning that more than 2.4 million people, including over one million children, are now at high risk of dying in Gaza.
