Israeli bombing has cut off the water supply to large parts of Gaza City after damaging a main supply line, the Gaza Municipality said on Saturday, amid warnings that Israel is attempting to reinstate its policy of starving Palestinians in the enclave.
In a statement, the municipality said Israeli bombing had damaged a key water pipeline belonging to the Israeli company Mekorot in the Shujaiya neighbourhood.
The bombardment comes despite an October 2025 truce agreement, which Israel has violated on an almost daily basis.
Mekorot is one of the main sources supplying water to the Gaza Strip. Israel exercises comprehensive control over the territory, making this water source, according to experts, a means of exerting pressure on the population.
The municipality added that it was in contact with the relevant authorities to coordinate repairs and restore the water supply as soon as possible.
The disruption to this pipeline comes after groundwater wells and water networks have been subjected to Israeli destruction over the course of three years of genocide.
In an earlier statement to Anadolu, environmental expert Saeed al-Aklouk said that Israel had destroyed more than 80% of Gaza’s water infrastructure.
Since October 2023, Israel has damaged or destroyed 90% of Gaza's civilian infrastructure, with the UN estimating reconstruction costs at approximately $70 billion.
The water crisis coincides with a shortage of flour and the closure of border crossings by the Israeli authorities, who have prevented essential food supplies from entering.
This has made it increasingly difficult for Gaza’s residents to obtain bread in the coastal enclave, where long queues have once again formed outside the few remaining bakeries operating at minimal capacity.
'Policy of starvation'
Hamas warned in a statement on Saturday that Israel was returning to the use of starvation as a policy in the Gaza Strip.
“The [Israeli] occupation’s move towards reinstating its policy of starvation against the people of the Gaza Strip exposes the international community’s utter failure and the complicity of the Board of Peace and its institutions in this criminal Israeli policy," the group said.
It added that Israel was repeating this policy due to the international community's failure to hold Tel Aviv accountable for its previous use of starvation against Gaza's population.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
On Friday, the Euro-Med Monitor warned of a renewed risk of famine in Gaza amid shortages of flour and essential food supplies, the suspension of operations at some bakeries, and the collapse of residents’ purchasing power. These conditions are unfolding as the Israeli blockade and restrictions on humanitarian and commercial supplies continue.