Israeli forces that swept into the north of Gaza have taken up positions near vital water infrastructure, satellite imagery from the commercial company Planet reveals.
Imagery from Nov. 6 shows Israeli armored vehicles arrayed around a seawater desalination plant on the north side of Gaza City, and immediately next to a sewage treatment facility to the south.
The water facilities were all occupied shortly after Israeli ground troops moved into Gaza on Oct. 27. Planet imagery suggests that Israeli forces had reached the desalination plant by Oct. 30. Troops reached the wastewater treatment plant south of Gaza City on Nov. 1, according to imagery from Planet and the European Space Agency’s Copernicus satellites.
A third facility, a sewage treatment plant immediately adjacent to Gaza’s border with Israel, appears to have drained its treatment basins within days of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, according to Planet imagery. But the imagery did not show evidence that Israeli forces are operating near the facility.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to answer NPR’s queries about the facilities, saying it did not comment on operational activity. Speaking on Monday on ABC News, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would likely take responsibility for security in Gaza “for an indefinite period.”
Simply occupying infrastructure like water and power facilities does not necessarily violate the laws of war.
“Infrastructure in warfare is protected,” says Marc Garlasco, a former United Nations war crimes investigator who now works for the Dutch non-profit PAX. Israeli forces cannot damage or destroy facilities designated essential for human life, he says, but “just because the Israel Defense Forces are operating around them does not mean they’re doing anything nefarious.”
Gaza has long suffered from water and sewage issues. The tiny strip has little surface water, and many of its wells are brackish. It depends on water piped in from Israel, and more recently, a…
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