UN: Gaza water supply could collapse in wake of Israel war

Well said. Thank you

Again the anti israel UN has something tl blame Israel Let Gaza find its own water Let the UN build a desalination plant instead of giving Gaza money for weapons. Israel musr cut all water distribution given to Gaza Gaza is its own state according to the UN so they can attend to thier water supply.

What planet are you from? 1.No one applauds the death of babies and women. 2. Israel wasn't doing collective punishment, it was trying to stop the war crimes committed by Hamas when they fired rockets at our civilians. 3. We haven't forgotten persecution, nor have we forgotten that our persecution was unprovoked. 4. We aren't fighting Hamas because their religion is different. We are fighting Hamas because they, for explicit ideological reasons, are trying to murder us. When they stop, we stop. 5. We have nothing to be ashamed of, not least our unwillingness to allow Jewish blood to be spilled.

Riiiight. IAF defeated Hamas by bombing water treatment plants and sewer sludge pits. Geez. Look at post-war Gaza, then look at post-war Dresden if you want to see what indiscriminate bombing of civilians REALLY looks like (not that I care). Compared to the 8000 rockets Gaza fired into Israel, how many American towns were hit by Nazi Germany? The answer (zero) proves only that Israel hasn't hit Gaza nearly hard enough. Not allowing PVC pipe into Gaza? OF COURSE NOT -what, so they can then convert the rest of the steel water pipe system into kassams, too? There is no Geneva Convention anywhere that requires allowing rebuilding or construction materials into a combatant nation while the declared war is still going on. Shalit, recognition of Jewish Israel and peace treaty, PVC goes in. No Shalit, no recognition, no peace -- Israel is under no obligation to allow ANYTHING across its sovereign territory for entry into Gaza. Legal justification? See under: "Arab economic boycott of Israel".

The problem herein lies not with good governance, it lies with the knee jerk efforts of uniting a people already oppressed. So, a rocket o two a day may sound great. Marching bands, with multi colored flags abound. Taking a hostage for over many years, as in the case of Gilad Shalit is PR, together with the daily pep talks of fighting Israeli occupation. Yet, when it comes down to the basics, the tunnels work, the qassams continue and dancing the tango with Iran seems more like a top priority. The responsibilities of good governance have vanished, for landfills and toxic waste will continue. The lack of water alone, will bring those treasonous leaders to the negotiating table, for they have failed to care for their people. Israel continues to supply Gaza with water, electricity and other basics whilst Gaza maintains a state of war. Strange, then again, the bookstores are run by Hamas, especially the cartoon section. Good night from chilly Swiss Alps.

Go back and look at the target list for the last offensive. Aside from the civilian police bomber at the outset, the primary targets the first few days were the water and sewage treatment systems. And Israel won't even allow in PVC (plastic pipe) to rebuild the system. This current situation is by IDF and Israeli political design. Just part of the campaign to do the most possible and deniable damage to the children of Gaza. The politicians have been disappointed, no cholera yet.

Hamas was fully responsible for the December invasion. They now have the choice of ensuring the water supply of Gaza remains safe or they can do nothing and eventually the Palestinians will begin to die as a result. Based on past performance Hamas will do absolutely nothing but blame Israel for everything that Hamas failed to do when required.

...we are Americans first buddy, our indian wars are long over. There are no UN resolutions or international laws being broken by the United States and it's territories. So sorry that Israel missed all that colonial business, after WWII, it became a principle betwixt the family of nations that 'territory acquired by war is inadmissible' - the rule of law - love it or leave the United Nations.

Who applaud the needless deaths of babies and old women? Who are proud that their leaders engage in collective punishment? Who have forgotten how it feels to be persecuted and brutalized and even killed because your religion is different from theirs? Shame on Israel for eternity.

The problem with your logic of the right of the strong to keep what you take is that the day you are not strong anymore, someone will again take it away from you.

The PALs set the price. Everytime they make a demands its 1000:1 or 1500:1 or far more. Whats fair is far. The PALs feel 1000 of them is worth 1 jew then so be it. 1000 PALs will die for every jewish death.

and Hamas is pathetic--but I never understood how that justified the blockade. Israel has done nothing for itself with the blockade--Hamas is still there. The rockets stopped but Hamas is as extreme as ever.

The misery of Gaza can no more be blamed on Israel than can the misery of Somalia - or North Korea. These peoples suffer from the lunatic regimes that rule them, not the neighbors. Overuse, overpopulation, salt-water intrusion, and sewage contamination are problems developing over decades of abusing the Gaza aquifer, not from Israel taking out rocket launchers and smuggling tunnels over 30 days of fighting. The UN will not find a single hydrologist to support this idiotic allegation. NOT ONE. Hong Kong, Tel Aviv and Gaza sit on same size plots of land. Gaza has the lowest population density of the three (contrary to UN and Arab propaganda) and the lowest economic activity - because they prefer to be perpetual "professional refugees". There is no shortage of funds to spend on weapons, they could have easily solved all their water problems with a tenth of this expenditure. Instead, Gaza looted and destroyed the irrigation systems Israel and World Bank gave them. Let Hamastan implode.

1. It was the Hamas that declared, and still does, iternal war on Israel. When you declare war you are responsible for the results. 2. The solution is Nation building, including Electricity supply and desalination. 3. The Hamas built a nation which is 100% a parasite of Israel. They do not print their own money and even do not have national lotary and their people pay millions to the Israeli one. It is a unique liberation movement that do not spend a cent on construction and nation building, blaming the whole world for the results of their own actions.

This UN report blaming Israel is ridiculous. Gaza has amongst the densest population densities in the world, in one of the driest regions in the world. Their water problems are like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. But blame Israel.... Solution: Improve the Gazan Infrastructure. The UN, USA, Japan, etc have pumped billions of wasted dollars into Gaza with the intent of improving the situation there. Gazan leadership could have used this as a lifeline to improve their infrastrucure, but of course the Gazans have squandered these opportunities and continue to focus upon their aim of attacking Israel.

Operation Cast Lead was unjustified. Hamas was observing a 6-month truce. Israel broke the truce in November. Why? It had decided before the truce began that it want to launch an assault on Gaza in December. It needed to get the rockets going again in order to justify the assault.

Hey Colin, when you give America back to its original owners, the Red Indians, that is the remnants of a once proud people, you the settlers massacred, then come spew your nonesense here on Haaretz.

those governed. People of Gaza have the territory within 67 borders and elected Govt.

I wish you'd stop calling it a war. When the invading army suffers less than a dozen fatalities -- and half of those through friendly fire -- whilst killing over a thousand victims, mostly civilians, it's not a 'war.' Massacre, pogrom, atrocity? If you must have a euphemism, 'action' comes to mind. But 'war'? No. Compared to 'Cast Lead', Wounded Knee would be something to make a nation hold its head high. Lieutenant Calley, the hero of My Lai...

Hopefully, the Palestinians have learned an important lesson: Don't fire rockets into Israel, because bad things can happen. Concentrate on building your society, instead of trying to destroy ours.