{"id":9,"date":"2026-04-28T14:57:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/?p=9"},"modified":"2026-04-28T14:57:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:57:53","slug":"smashed-pipes-blocked-off-wells-taps-run-dry-in-the-west-bank-as-israeli-settlers-target-palestinians-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/?p=9","title":{"rendered":"Smashed pipes, blocked off wells: Taps run dry in the West Bank as Israeli settlers target Palestinians\u2019 water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ein Samia and Bardala, West Bank&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the masked men sliced through the metal fence of the water-pumping station on a dark February evening and ran toward the squat building, the four workers inside panicked. Three fled; the fourth stayed behind. He jumped into a manhole and crouched in the cramped, dank space for 90 minutes. Above him, the attackers shattered monitors, severed electrical wires and smashed pipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the threat faced by those who work in the Ein Samia pumping station in the occupied West Bank, said Mohammad Abu Ayyash, water operations director at the Jerusalem Water Undertaking, a regional public water utility, as he recounted the story of the attack to Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The station, northeast of Ramallah, is a vital water hub, supplying around 100,000 Palestinians across more than 20 communities. It\u2019s also become a target for attacks by extremist Israeli settlers. Since the beginning of the year, Ayyash said they have attacked Ein Samia at least 10 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The day Al jazeera was there in late February, two weeks after the attack, two settlers pulled up in an ATV and started filming on their cell phones. They\u2019d spotted our rental car; it wasn\u2019t safe to stay there too long, Ayyash warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"756\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1344 \/ 756;\" width=\"1344\" controls src=\"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-bank-water-jan-27-loop-1-1.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ein Samia is far from the only target. Attacks by settlers on Palestinian water in the West Bank have\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Me4mmbvSE2M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">soared<\/a>\u00a0over recent years, according to United Nations data. The West Bank has seen a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/03\/27\/middleeast\/israeli-soldiers-settler-ideology-detain-cnn-crew-latam-intl\">surge in settler violence<\/a>\u00a0in recent months amid an effort by Israel\u2019s right-wing government to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/02\/15\/middleeast\/israel-advances-registration-of-west-bank-territory-as-state-land-intl-latam\">deepen control<\/a>\u00a0over the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe settlers now are launching a campaign to take as much water from the Palestinians as they can,\u201d said Jad Isaac, the director general of the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, known as ARIJ, which promotes sustainable development in the occupied Palestinian territories<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taps can run dry for hours or days at a time, while farm animals and crops suffer \u2014 water was off for 12 hours after the February attack at Ein Samia, Ayyash said. It\u2019s a devastating additional pressure for a region that is already water scarce, prone to droughts and heat waves that are worsening as the climate crisis escalates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Israeli military acknowledged it encountered incidents of violence against Palestinians and their property and said soldiers were required to act to stop any violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"626\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1116 \/ 626;\" width=\"1116\" controls src=\"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-bank-water-loop-3.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ein Samia and Bardala, West Bank&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;&nbsp; When the masked men sliced through the metal fence of the water-pumping station on a dark February evening and ran toward the squat building, the four workers inside panicked. Three fled; the fourth stayed behind. He jumped into a manhole and crouched in the cramped, dank space for 90&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/13"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aljaazeera.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}