Human Rights Watch has accused the Israeli occupation of committing genocide during its war on the Gaza Strip, including deliberately denying residents access to water, and demanding sanctions against Israel.

“The Israeli authorities have deliberately imposed on the Palestinian population of Gaza living conditions designed to destroy part of the population by deliberately denying Palestinian civilians there adequate access to water,” the rights group said Thursday in a report focusing on water.

These restrictions have led to thousands of deaths and are likely to continue to kill more Gazans, the organization said, stressing that what Israel is doing is “deliberately denying safe drinking water and sanitation necessary for the minimum human survival.”

Lama Fakih, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, told a news conference, “What we found is that the Israeli government is deliberately killing Palestinians in Gaza by depriving them of the water they need to survive.”