Israel's national water company Mekorot cut water supply to large areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians without drinking water during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.
The Israeli water supplier cut off water supply to several Palestinian towns, villages and cities including Jenin, several Nablus villages, Salfit and its surrounding villages.
Ayman Rabi, the executive director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group, said that in some areas people had not received water for more than 40 days, Al Jazeera reported.
"People are relying on purchasing water from water trucks or finding it from alternative sources such as springs and other filling points in their vicinity," he was quoted as saying in the piece.
Palestinian families are forced to live on two, three or at most 10 liters per capita per day, he also added.
The city of Jenin which hosts over 40,000 people, said its water supplies had been cut by half, and warned that it would hold the Israeli company solely responsible for any possible tragedies that could result from water shortages during the hot summer months, Al Jazeera also added.
According to the United Nations, 7.5 liters of water per person per day is the minimum requirement for most people in the world but in some areas of Palestine where the summers are extremely hot, the minimum requirement of water intake and use is much higher.
Since 1967, Israel has limited the water available to Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since its military forces illegally occupied the both territories.
Israelis, including its citizens living in the illegal settlements constructed on occupied Palestinian territories, consume five times more water than Palestinians in the West Bank, 350 litres per person per day in Israel compared with 60 litres per Palestinian per day in the West Bank.
