Hamas belies Israel: Tel Aviv hasn't resumed water supplies for Gaza

Israel-Hamas War: US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Israeli officials informed him that water pipes in southern Gaza have been turned back on.

Israel has not resumed water supplies for Gaza, spokesman of Hamas interior ministry Eyad Al-Bozom said as per news agency Reuters. He said, “The residents drink unhealthy water, posing a serious health crisis threatens the lives of the citizens.”

Israel-Hamas War: Palestinians search for casualties under the rubble at a site of a house destroyed by Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. (Reuters)

This comes after White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Israeli officials informed him that water pipes in southern Gaza have been turned back on.

"I have been in touch with my Israeli counterparts just within the last hour who reported to me that they have, in fact, turned the water pipe back on in southern Gaza," he said. Israel had halted the flow of water as part of its siege of Gaza since the war broke out last weekend as Tel Aviv escalated measures against the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to a “total blockade”. These included a ban on admitting food and fuel, country's defence minister Yoav Gallanthad then said, calling this as part of a battle against “beastly people”.

Meanwhile, Egypt said on that Israel was not cooperating with delivery of aid into Gaza and evacuations of foreign passport holders via the only entry it does not wholly control. This has resulted in hundreds of tonnes of supplies stuck, Cairo said. The Rafah crossing is not officially closed but is inoperable due to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side.

"There is an urgent need to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza," Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said, adding that talks with Israel had not been fruitful.

“Until now the Israeli government has not taken a position on opening the Rafah crossing from the Gaza side to allow the entrance of assistance and exit of citizens of third countries,” he said.

More than 2 million Gaza residents have been under siege since Israel launched an intense bombardment and blockade in retaliation for an assault by the Hamas. Even though reports claimed that a ceasefire was in place in southern Gaza for some hours to facilitate aid and evacuations at Rafah, Israel denied it saying, “There is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out.”