In a post on social media, Gharibabadi said accessing safe and clean drinking water has been recognized as a basic human rights, the IRNA reported on Tuesday.

“The Zionist regime’s move to cut off water to the people of Gaza is considered a war crime,” he said, pointing out that the Daesh terrorist group also cut off the water supply of Syria’s Aleppo seven years ago, a move which the UN emergency aid coordinator in Syria called at the time a war crime.

Israel on Monday announced a “total” blockade of the already besieged Gaza Strip, including a ban on food and water, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, in the occupied territories.

Hamas said that its operation was a response to the regime’s violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds.