By Stephanie van den Berg THE HAGUE -Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.

The groups are the latest to join the large number of prominent voices accusing Israel of genocide or genocidal acts.

Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of causing the deaths of thousands of Palestinians by systematically restricting and targeting Gaza’s water supply in a campaign that amounted to “acts of genocide.

Israel on Thursday faced accusations of "acts of genocide" in Gaza, a charge it denounced as full of "lies", while a medical charity said the devastation caused in the Palestinian territory showed "signs of ethnic cleansing".

The ICJ has issued an interim ruling confirming that the people of Gaza have a plausible right not to be the victim of genocide, so the case can go ahead. But that isn’t the same as ruling that the allegations of genocide by Israel are plausible. It will be several years until there is a final ruling in the case.

Human Rights Watch concludes that Israel’s deliberate obstruction of the Gazan population's access to water amounts to an 'act of genocide.'

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday accused Israel of “acts of genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza by depriving them of adequate water supplies. The group, in an extensive report, found that between October 2023 and September 2024,