Reuters Partially Fixes Leaky Coverage on Israeli Water Consumption

Misinformation on water consumption in both Israel and the Palestinian-controlled has long been subject to a deluge of misreporting. In response to a correction request from CAMERA’s Israel office, Reuters yesterday corrected an article which had further muddied the waters (“Terrible thirst hits Gaza with polluted aquifers and broken pipes“).

In their Aug. 6 article, Reuters journalists Ramadan Abed and Nidal Al-Mughrabi had claimed: “Average daily consumption in Israel is around 247 litres a day according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.” While B’Tselem does cite that figure, the anti-settlement advocacy organization does not provide a source for the number, and is itself not an authority on water consumption.

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) is the authoritative source for data on Israeli water consumption. Its data is drawn from Israel’s Water Authority. According to this CBS report, Israelis’ domestic consumption of water (drinking, cooking, bathing, flushing, laundry and gardening, among other household uses) stands at 165 litres a day person.

Reuters agreed with CAMERA that a correction is in order, and commendably amended to the text to accurately state: “Average daily domestic consumption in Israel is 165 litres a day according to the government’s Central Bureau of Statistics.”

In addition, editors prominently posted a correction to the top of the article alerting readers to the change. It states: “(This Aug. 6 story has been corrected to fix the Israeli daily water consumption figure in paragraph 14.)”

The news agency, however, has yet to correct an accompanying video which repeats the inflated figure for Israeli water consumption. In addition, the error still appears in the Arabic version of the same article. CAMERA continues to urge Reuters to correct the error on any of its platforms in which it appears.

Separately, regarding water consumption in the Gaza Strip, the article reports:

Bushra Khalidi, a humanitarian policy lead for aid agency Oxfam in the Israel-occupied Palestinian territories said the average consumption in Gaza was now 3-5 liters a day.

(Graphic by COGAT)

Notably, the article ignores highly relevant data from COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for coordinating aid in Gaza Strip, on the question of water availability in the coastal territory. According to COGAT’s June 15-21, 2025 report:

Water in Gaza is available from waterlines from Israel, desalination plants, and local pumping facilities. The amount of water available is 31 liters of water per person per day in northern Gaza and 43 liters of water per person per day in southern Gaza.

COGAT’s information on water availability in the Gaza Strip is highly relevant to the story, especially since the article reports: “The United Nations says the minimum emergency level of water consumption per person is 15 liters a day for drinking cooking, cleaning and washing.” Similarly, a summary at the top of the article maintains: “Average water consumption a fraction of minimum emergency needs.”

Why does Reuters conceal from readers that despite the difficult circumstances under which the population lives, at least double the minimum recommended amount of water per person is reportedly available in the Gaza Strip?