Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of Gaza lost their only source of clean water last week after the deliveries of the Israeli water supply company were cut by the renewed offensive of the Israeli army, the city authorities said in the territory.
Many now have to run for miles to get a small water filling after the bombing of the Israeli military and a soil offensive in the east of Shejaiya of the Gaza City of the Pipeline, which was operated by Mekorot.
“I’ve been waiting for water since morning,” said 42-year-old Gaza woman Mate Nassar. “There are no stations and no trucks. There is no water. The intersections are closed. God wants, the war will end safely and peacefully.”
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Israel ordered last week to evacuate the residents of Shejaiya when it started an offensive in which several districts were bombarded. The military previously said that it was active against “terrorist infrastructure” and killed a high -ranking militant guide.
The Mekorot’s pipeline has delivered 70 percent of water in Gaza since the destruction of most of its wells during the war, the urban authorities say.
“The situation is very difficult and things become more complicated, especially when it comes to the daily life of people and their daily water needs, be it for cleaning, disinfection and even cooking and drinking,” said Husni Mhan, the spokesman for the community.
“We now live in a real thirst crisis in the city of Gaza and could be exposed to difficult reality in the coming days if the situation remains the same.”
Worsening of the water crisis
Most 2.3 million people of Gaza have become expelled internally in the war, with many daily trips underway to fill plastic containers with water from the few fountains that still work in remotor areas – and even these do not guarantee clean supplies.
Water for drinking, cooking and washing has increasingly become a luxury after the war between Israel and the militant group of the Palestinian militant militant group Hamas, whose fighters carried out the deadliest attack in Israel in October 2023 and killed 1,200 people in South Israel and took 250 hostages after 250 hostages.
Since then, more than 50,800 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign, according to the Palestinian authorities.
Many residents of the enclave queue -off for hours to get water filling, which is usually not sufficient for their daily needs.
“I’m going long. I get tired. I’m old, I am not young to walk around every day to get water,” said 64-year-old Adel Al-Hourani.
Most of Gazas in operation
The only natural water source of the Gaza Strip is the coastal groundwater pool that runs along the eastern Mediterranean coast from the Northern Sinai peninsula in Egypt, Gaza and Israel.
However, its salty tap water is strongly exhausted, with up to 97 percent due to salt content, overextraction and pollution as not considered not suitable for human consumption.
The Palestinian water authority found that most of their wells had not been functional during the war.
On March 22, a joint statement by the Palestinian Statistics Office and the Water Authority said that more than 85 percent of the water and sanitary facilities and assets in Gaza were completely or in part.
Officials from the Palestinian and the United Nations said that most of the GAZA desalination systems were either damaged or had stopped the operations due to Israel’s electricity and fuel cuts.
“Due to the extensive damage caused by the water and sanitary sector, the water supply rates have decreased to an average of three to five liters per person per day,” the explanation said.
This was far below the at least 15 liters per person per day, which, according to the World Health Organizers in emergencies, added demands on emergencies.
Food, medicine also expired
More than six weeks since Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the approximately 2.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, Food Food bearing has almost expired during a ceasefire at the beginning of the year.
The distributions for emergency meals end, the bakeries are closed, the markets are empty.
Hani Abu-Al Qasim, a food sales officer with a food bench in Khan Younis, says that it will work with very few foods that will soon start.
“The people come to us last,” he told CBC’s freelance video Mohamed El Saife on Friday.
Ahmed Abu Daqqa, a resident who was waiting in line in Food Bank, says that the Palestinians in the field do not know whether they will wake up the next day and be able to get food into their hands.
“Civilians are waiting for hours in line and waiting for food that they sometimes cannot get. It is a great suffering,” he said.
In the meantime, medical stocks are also critical, which makes it difficult to keep hospitals ready for operation, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
“We are of crucial importance in our three camps, in relation to antibiotics, IV fluids and blood bags,” said the official Rik Peeeperkorn reporter in Geneva via Video -Link from Jerusalem.
