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ISLAMABAD: The head of a delegation visiting Washington DC to present Islamabad’s position following a recent military standoff with New Delhi said on Thursday India shutting down Pakistan’s water supply would be tantamount to laying the “foundations for the first nuclear water war.”

Tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India are high after they struck a ceasefire on May 10 following the most intense military confrontation in decades. Both countries accuse the other of supporting militancy on each other’s soil — a charge both capitals deny.

The latest escalation, in which the two countries’ militaries traded missile, drones and artillery fire, was sparked after India accused Pakistan of supporting militants who attacked dozens of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, killing 26. Islamabad denies involvement. Following the attack, Delhi unilaterally “put in abeyance” the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which governs usage of the Indus river system. The accord has not been revived despite the rivals agreeing on a ceasefire on May 10.

“In the age of climate challenges that are to come, water scarcity and water wars, or anyway, used to be a theory,” Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a former foreign minister who is heading the Pakistani delegation, said at an event at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

“India’s shutting off Pakistan’s water supply is laying the foundations for the first nuclear water war.”

Islamabad had said after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty that it considered any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan to be an “act of war.”

About 80% of Pakistani farms depend on the Indus system, as do nearly all hydropower projects serving the country of some 250 million.

“It is an existential crisis for us,” Bhutto Zardari said in DC. “Any country on the planet, no matter their size, their strength, or their ability, would fight for their survival and fight for their water. India must abide by the Indus Waters Treaty.”

He urged Washington and other countries not to allow India to violate the treaty or fulfil its threat of stopping Pakistan’s rightful share of Indus waters.

“You cannot allow this precedent to be set in the Pakistan context, because we’ll fight the first war, but it won’t be the last,” Bhutto Zardari warned.

“If India is allowed to cut off our water, that means that every upper riparian with hostilities to a lower riparian now has a carte blanche.”

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the nine-member diplomatic group last month, headed by Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who has been leading a team to visits in New York, Washington DC, London and Brussels since June 2. Another delegation, led by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi, has visited Moscow.

Earlier on Thursday, Bhutto Zardari’s delegation met members of the US Congressional Pakistan Caucus in Washington, including Republican party leaders Jack Bergman and Ryan Zinke and Democratic leaders Tom Suozzi and Ilhan Omar, among others.

“Pakistan remains committed to peace, but sadly, India consistently resists dialogue,” Bhutto Zardari told the American lawmakers, according to a statement released by Bilawal House, his official residence.

Pakistan and India, bitter rivals, have fought two out of three wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir that they both claim in full but govern only parts of.

LONDON: Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza means a generation of Palestinian children are being denied a chance in life, the head of the UN’s World Food Program said on Thursday.

Israel imposed a full blockade on food and relief supplies from entering the territory on March 2, before breaking a ceasefire and resuming its devastating military operation a few weeks later.

Limited supplies were allowed back in late last month but nowhere near to the scale required, WFP Director Cindy McCain told Sky News.

“It’s very, very important that people realize that the only way to stave off malnutrition, catastrophic food insecurity and, of course, famine would be by complete and total access for organizations like mine,” she said.

“We’re looking at a generation of children that won’t have a chance in life because they haven’t had the proper nutrients. Right now, we’re looking at over 500,000 people within Gaza that are catastrophically food insecure.”

The resumption of limited aid supplies came after Israel built new distribution hubs in the territory run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a newly formed US organization.

Previously, the UN’s Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA and the WFP were in charge of distributing aid in the territory. But Israel has banned UNWRA from working in Gaza and has taken control of the aid system.

Scores of Palestinians have been shot dead this week as they attempted to access one of the new aid hubs in the south of the territory.

McCain said the new system was not allowing enough aid to get into Gaza to feed its malnourished population.

Speaking to “The World with Yalda Hakim,” she urged Israel to allow international aid to “get in at scale.”

“We need safe, unfettered, clear access all the way in and we're not getting that right now,” she said.

Her comments came as the GHF resumed its operations on Thursday after shutting down on Wednesday in response to the number of deaths near its hub.

McCain is the latest aid agency chief to deliver strongly worded condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where its military operation has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

On Wednesday, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric said Gaza had become “worse than hell on earth.”