The Hamas paper Al-Risalah conducted an investigation into the subject of Jewish agricultural land in Gaza that was evacuated in the 2005 Disengagement plan, and found that despite Arab claims that Israel has caused a water crisis in Gaza, local residents are in fact to blame.

In its investigation, which relied on figures from the Hamas agricultural ministry, the paper found that excessive use of water for agriculture by local farmers was behind the shortage of water.

In particular the raising of vegetables that require vast amounts of water, digging wells without supervision, and pumping water excessively was found to be the culprit of Gaza’s water woes.

The paper of the Hamas terror organization noted that prior to the 2005 expulsion of all Jews from Gaza, no more than 20 wells were being used by Israelis in Gush Katif, and they were dug around a kilometer from the coast so as to trap rain water.

The average pumping from these wells was around 20-30 cubic meters per hour.

Today, the number of wells in the area has tripled, and the Arab agricultural unions working in the evacuated Jewish communities dug close to 30 more wells – in addition to the 16 dug by the municipality.

The average pumping from the agricultural unions’ wells is between 60-120 cubic meters per hour, while the average from municipality wells is between 60-70 cubic meters per hour, showing the improper usage of Gaza’s water resources.