An abandoned watch tower at the Israel-Jordan border, as seen from the Israeli side, May 6, 2015. Photo: Moshe Shai / Flash90.

Regional solidarity is more important than politics, the head of Israel’s Water Authority told Mako in an interview published on Tuesday.

Giora Shoham made the comment following calls by some Israeli ministers to limit the amount of water the Jewish state supplies to Jordan following King Abdullah II’s announcement on Sunday that the 25-year leases of two areas of land to Israel — part of the 1994 peace treaty between the two neighbors — would not be renewed.

Jordan, according to Shaham, receives 45-55 million cubic meters of water from Israel annually.

When it comes to water, Shaham said, politics should not be a factor.

“We have a drought, and they have a drought, and they are dying from thirst,” Shaham said, noting that Jordan had not developed the same solutions to the water shortage issue — such as desalinization — that Israel had.