Oxfam has warned that Israeli forces are replicating in Lebanon the same systematic attacks on water infrastructure carried out during Israel’s “genocide in Gaza.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Oxfam said it fears “Israel’s military blueprint of attacking water infrastructure… is now being rolled out across parts of Lebanon.”

According to Oxfam’s analysis, “Israeli forces are destroying water and sanitation infrastructure including strikes near sites that were being rehabilitated,” the organisation said.

The group stressed that such attacks violate international humanitarian law. “The Geneva conventions prohibit attacks on water installations and other objects that are critical for people to survive,” Oxfam said, adding that “any intentional deprivation of water or obstruction of aid may constitute a war crime.”

In the first days of the latest escalation, Israel damaged “at least seven critical water sources including reservoirs, pipe networks and pumping stations that supplied water to almost 7,000 people in the Bekaa area alone.”

In southern Lebanon, Israel’s displacement orders have forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Oxfam and its partners have been rehabilitating 19 water facilities serving up to 60,000 people.

Six of them were already damaged during last year’s escalation, and now “there have been confirmed strikes in many of the areas where these facilities are located.”

“Oxfam teams cannot now safely access these areas to assess whether they too are now destroyed or damaged,” the statement said.

The organisation warned that long-term consequences will be severe for communities that may one day return home without functioning water systems.

The destruction extends beyond water infrastructure. “Israel has also destroyed electricity networks and bridges, cutting off vital supplies and services for entire towns and villages,” Oxfam reported.

Bachir Ayoub, Oxfam’s Lebanon Country Director, said Israeli operations show a clear pattern: “It’s obvious that the Israeli Forces are repeating the same pattern in Lebanon as they did in Gaza… Aiming to maximize disruption and fear among the population, while ignoring international law.”

“The impunity Israel enjoyed in Gaza as it committed water war crimes is again on full display”, he added.

During the 2024 escalation, Israel damaged “more than 45 water networks in Lebanon, impacting almost half a million people.”

“Given the ongoing lack of accountability… Oxfam is concerned these renewed attacks will see a sharp rise in the destruction of civilian infrastructure,” the statement warned.

Oxfam also criticised global inaction. “Despite the scale of destruction and mounting evidence of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, the international community remains complicit in its silence,” the organisation said.

Ayoub called for “immediate and unconditional ceasefire and an end to this war.”

He urged the world not to allow Lebanon to become a repeat of Gaza: “The same devastation must not be allowed to play out again in Lebanon… Israel must be held to account for its violations.”