Germany finds Human Rights Watch report on Israeli acts of genocide in Gaza 'shocking'

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - Germany on Friday expressed dismay over a Human Rights Watch report which accused Israel of committing "acts of genocide" in Gaza by deliberately depriving Palestinian civilians there of adequate access to water.

“The (Human Rights Watch) report joins a series of reports from international human rights organizations. These reports are of course shocking. And I think it is really urgent that the Israeli government, so to speak, deals with these allegations and addresses them,” deputy Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christian Wagner said at a press briefing in Berlin.

A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report confirms that Israel is pursuing extermination and genocide in its war on Gaza, specifically zeroing in on the critical issue of access to water, which Israel has worked to deliberately deny.

Titled "Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water," the report, issued Thursday, said: "Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation needed for basic human survival."

It added that in its war, now in its second deadly year, the Israeli army has "deliberately destroyed and damaged water and sanitation infrastructure and water repair materials; and blocked the entry of critical water supplies" to Palestinians in war-torn Gaza.

Meanwhile, Wagner lamented again “the catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza, saying at the moment there are “not enough border crossings” to deliver aid into Gaza.

More humanitarian aid needs to get into Gaza. The distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza “is a huge challenge,” Wagner added. ​​​​​​​

On Wednesday, the UN reported that Israel has facilitated less than one-third of planned humanitarian aid operations into the Gaza Strip in December.

Citing the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Israeli authorities continue to deny UN aid operations to besieged parts of northern Gaza, including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and areas of Jabalya.

Saying that most UN requests have been "denied outright" by Israel since its siege began 10 weeks ago, Dujarric said, "Across the strip, humanitarians continue to face severe access constraints as they try to reach huge numbers of people in need of food, water, shelter, essential and other essentials for them to survive."

"Throughout Gaza, we planned 339 aid movements that required coordination with the Israeli authorities between 1 and 16 December. They facilitated less than a third of those movements," he said.

He noted that "out of 96 such humanitarian movements planned for the first half of December, just 16 were facilitated by the Israeli authorities."