The Jerusalem Water Authority said in a statement: "Repeated settler attacks on water wells in the Ein Samia area (east of Ramallah) on Tuesday have halted water pumping from the main wells, threatening to deprive thousands of citizens in more than 19 residential communities of their basic right to water."
The utility, which covers the Ramallah and Jerusalem governorates, noted that the attack "severed the control lines of wells 2, 4, and 6, bringing them to a complete standstill." It noted that its crews are working around the clock to repair the damage and resume water pumping as soon as possible.
She called on official and international bodies to "urgently intervene to stop these daily attacks and ensure the protection of Palestinian citizens' right to access water, their primary source of livelihood."
She noted that "Ain Samia wells have been subjected to a series of repeated attacks over the past few months, while their crews face significant challenges in accessing the wells and repairing the damage. This exacerbates the water crisis and threatens the water security of dozens of Palestinian communities."
Ain Samia is one of the most important groundwater sources in the northeastern Ramallah area. The total production capacity of its wells is estimated at approximately 12,000 cubic meters per day, representing 17 percent of the daily quantities supplied by the Jerusalem Water Authority, according to the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
The wells are located in the eastern foothills of the West Bank, and have been subject to extensive settler attacks since before October 7, 2023. However, with the outbreak of the war of extermination in Gaza, Israeli settlers took control of the area and expelled Palestinian farmers, hindering the Jerusalem Water Authority from carrying out its work.
There are six water wells in Ein Samia, located in the lands of the town of Kafr Malik (east of Ramallah), which have supplied most of the towns east of Ramallah with drinking water since the 1960s.
In parallel with the war of extermination in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation army and settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, killed at least 1,047 Palestinians, injured approximately 10,300, and arrested more than 19,000, including 400 children, according to official Palestinian data.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving 66,097 martyrs and 168,536 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 453 Palestinians, including 150 children.
