Boycott calls after Israeli army seen drinking Turkish mineral water in Gaza

Calls for a boycott of Turkish-founded water company Sirma are growing after video purportedly showed a group of Israeli soldiers drinking their product in Gaza went viral.

Video widely circulating on social media shows smiling Israel soldiers sat around a table at a makeshift military barracks that appears to be a school. A bottle of Sirma water sits on the table.

Using the hashtag #BoykotSirmaSu, social media users urged consumers to stop buying water from the company, which was bought by French giant Danone in 2013.

"@sirmaturkiye keeping Israeli occupation forces hydrated while they're carrying out genocide against Palestinians in Gaza," one user on 'X' said. 

"We continue our boycott in the strongest possible way. We do not buy the products of baby killers and Zionists. #BoykotSırmaSu," another said.

Sirma says on its website that its products can be found in Israel; its list does not mention the Palestinian territories.

Calls to boycott Sirma predated the video, as Danone has regularly featured on boycott lists.

Several articles from Turkish media outlets published since Israel's war on Gaza began on 7 October ask the question: "Is Sirma water Israeli?" 

The New Arab has contacted Danone for more information on its ties to Sirma water.

Israeli's onslaught on Gaza has killed almost 19,000 people since its start, and displaced almost all of Gaza's population from their homes.

The brutal offensive has seen calls for a boycott of companies supporting or perceived to be supporting Israel grow.

In what has been hailed as a victory for the Palestinian grassroots Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, sportswear brand Puma announced this week that it was ending its sponsorship deal with the Israeli football association.

Though Danone does not feature on the BDS movement's current list of companies to boycott, it has in the past shared links to other groups' moves to boycott the company.