JERUSALEM

Israel is considering a decision not to extend a water agreement with Jordan due to Amman’s criticism of a deadly Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media on Thursday.

“The Energy Ministry is looking into a decision not to extend the water agreement with Jordan over anti-Israel statements from senior Jordanian officials,” the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said.

Jordan and Israel have an agreement that sees the Arab nation purchasing 50 million cubic meters of water from Tel Aviv under their 1994 peace agreement.

In 2021, the two countries signed an agreement allowing Amman to purchase an additional 50 million cubic meters of water from Israel in exchange for electricity production from Amman to Tel Aviv.

Jordan currently stands second in the list of the world’s water-poorest countries, according to the global water index.

“A final decision has not yet been taken,” KAN said. “The issue depends on the development of relations with Jordan and how the Jordanians will express their position on the war in the near future.”

There was no comment from Jordan or Israel on the report.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, killing at least 25,700 Palestinians and injuring 63,740 others. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while more than half of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio