see attached file

General Comments :

The preprint is well written, with figures and tables of good quality. The article is well referenced with a thorough bibliographic search. The introduction is also very well argued, making it possible to clearly differentiate what the article contributes in addition to the existing bibliography. However, this introduction is perhaps a little long. The scientific approach proposed is interesting, as it is based on in situ measurements supplemented by an empirical approach. This makes it possible to bring a quantitative aspect to the qualitative observations. However, the quantitative aspect needs to be clarified. 

The study site concerns a major aquifer in the western region of the West Bank (Palestine). This aquifer, which extends from the western mountainous zone to the Mediterranean Sea, is particularly exploited on the Mediterranean coast and constitutes an important societal issue. 

Taking an interest in its recharge zone is a key step in subsequently assessing the impact of climate change on this reserve, which is located in areas that are and will be strongly impacted in the near future by the decrease in rainfall. The approach is all the more interesting in that it can be applied to many major resources of the Mediterranean region, including soils, crops and geology (mainly carbonates). This aspect is open in the article but could be much more emphasised in the discussion. 

This article therefore provides new data on a region that is difficult to access and often little studied. Both the methodology and the results can be directly applied to similar hydrosystems with strong societal stakes, similar to those around the Mediterranean. Furthermore, it opens up an important point, which is the spatialization of recharge based on observations intrinsic to the environment, rather than on external data such as "precipitation" or "evaporation", generally used for this type of study. This intrinsic approach allows a more precise quantification of recharge and of the areas concerned by this recharge (which can therefore be more protected for example).

This article deserves to be published.

Specific comments (to be improved with minor corrections):

*The introduction, interesting because of its well-informed bibliographical aspect, seems to me a little long: points 1.2 to 1.4 could be reduced to one or two parts.

* The discussion could be more open on other peri-Mediterranean sites: how to apply this method for example? What is the common point such as soil development, different crops, geology? 

* The biggest point to improve: explain how the % figures expressed in the different tables (especially Table 4 and 5) are obtained. Indeed, we understand very well the classifications of the different soils according to LU/LC, soil thickness, geology ...., but on the other hand the "percentage value" aspect is not clearly explained. This point, which makes it possible to quantify the recharge areas and to propose a detailed map, is not explicit at all. This is, in my opinion, the main point to be improved in this article.

* Another important point is the role of slope in recharge: topographic slopes have a significant impact on recharge: is this more or less integrated in this classification? If so, how? This also needs to be explained. 

Technical corrections :

- Colour matching between Figure 1 and 2: in green, on Figure 1, we have the Yatla Formation, while in Figure 2, the green colour corresponds to Upp Aquifer, and the Yatla Formation is beige: try to be homogeneous in terms of colour. 

- Same remark with the colours in table 1: use of green and blue, not particularly consistent with figures 1 and 2.