AhlulBayt News Agency: A newly released Palestinian report has exposed Israel’s systematic policy of water deprivation in the occupied West Bank, revealing that Israeli forces and settlers have destroyed or confiscated 1,986 water-related structures—including wells, springs, reservoirs, and tanks—over the past ten years.
Published by the Land Research Center, the report emphasizes that Israel uses water denial as a method of coercion, with the destruction and seizure of water sources forming part of a calculated strategy to forcibly displace Palestinians.
Between 2015 and June 2025, the center documented 1,304 wells destroyed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF), 443 wells targeted by settlers, and 239 confiscated water tanks. IOF actions alone damaged nearly 19,550 dunums of farmland, while settler attacks affected over 10,400 dunums.
The report identifies Jenin governorate as the most severely impacted, with 343 water structures destroyed. Al-Khalil followed with 282 cases, then Tubas with 219, Ramallah and al-Bireh with 106, and the rest scattered across other districts.
Details include the destruction of 223 wells, 43 water pools, 23 main reservoirs, 24 artesian wells, 151 springs and pipelines, and 840 plastic tanks. During raids on Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps, IOF forces destroyed 350 water reservoirs.
The years 2023 and 2025 saw the most intense campaigns, with 448 water structures destroyed in 2023 and 248 in the first half of 2025.
The report also notes that settlers not only destroyed and seized water sources but also took control of natural springs, establishing new settlement outposts near them—such as Ein al-Sakut and Ein Hilweh—and obstructed the construction of new wells and networks, monopolizing artesian wells.
Settler violence intensified after 2023, with new outposts built around water sources. In August 2025, settlers sealed seven springs with concrete in al-Dhahiriya, and in July 2025, seized a spring in Farkha village near Salfit.
Additionally, three new settlement outposts were established in February 2025 in al-Jiftlik, Fasayel, and Ras al-Auja in Jericho governorate. These actions are described as part of Israel’s broader effort to Judaize the region and control its natural resources. Settler herders have also taken over agricultural wells in Masafer Yatta after destroying grazing lands and crops.
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