Israel’s war cabinet has made the controversial decision to open a second water line to the southern Gaza Strip, encouraging residents to evacuate.
By Mindy Rubenstein
Israel has reopened the second of three water pipelines that provide water to the Gaza Strip, allowing for the flow of approximately 28.5 million liters of water per day into the Hamas-controlled territory, according to the Israeli military liaison IDF Col. Elad Goren, who oversees the civilian department of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.
During a briefing for foreign journalists, Goren said that the current water supply is sufficient to meet basic humanitarian needs in Gaza and that there is no shortage of either food or water for the residents of the area.
He added that the amount of humanitarian aid being transferred to Gaza is expected to increase in the coming weeks.
Hamas is working to prevent civilians from moving to the south of the Gaza Strip, but the water line is meant to encourage Gaza residents to move south, to distance themselves from the battlefields, and to go to places where they can find humanitarian needs such as water, Goren said.
He also highlighted the fact that one of the three water pipelines connecting Israel to Gaza was damaged and knocked out of operation by Hamas during its attack on Israel on October 7.
In his statement, Goren said, “Hamas started a war against the State of Israel, and its government harms and exploits those who are trying not to take part in terrorism.”
MK Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Israeli political party Yisrael Beytenu, criticized the decision.
“The cabinet’s decision to continue humanitarian aid by opening an additional water line and dramatically increasing the number of trucks that are entering the Rafah Crossing, without any information regarding the hostages, and ceding from the demand that the Red Cross meet them in return for aid, is simply idiocy,” Liberman wrote.
He added: “I again emphasize: we have no real way to know or oversee what’s entering the Gaza Strip, and anyone who says otherwise is lying. We have no right to give up on our daughters and sons.”