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Humanitarian disaster in Gaza, residents are forced to drink contaminated water

2023-10-25 07:54:36Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Humanitarian disaster in Gaza, residents are forced to drink contaminated water

Mohammad Al Shanti is forced to travel nearly four miles to Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza to fill plastic water bottles. It is only enough for the most basic needs of his family. "We don't wash clothes, we save every little drop," he told CNN, describing the water situation as "catastrophic."

Finding clean water is becoming an all-encompassing – and increasingly difficult – challenge for many Gazans. Hamas's brutal attacks in Israel on October 7 killed at least 1,400 people and the group took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. In the wake of the attack, Israel launched an aerial bombardment of Gaza that Palestinian health officials say has killed more than 5,000 people. Israel also announced a "complete siege" on the enclave, cutting off vital supplies of water, food and fuel.

Israel has since allowed some water to flow through one of three pipelines leading to Gaza, but experts say it covers only a small percentage of the enclave's needs. Most of Gaza's water comes from local sources, but the fuel needed to pump and purify it is running out fast.
As the water system collapses, some Gazans have been forced to drink contaminated and salty water, prompting concerns of a health crisis and fears that people could begin dying of dehydration.

A 'humanitarian disaster'
Water production in Gaza is currently at 5% of normal levels, according to a UNICEF report from October 17, citing the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA). Gazans now live on less than 3 liters of water a day, according to the UN, far below the 50 liters recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the absolute minimum needed to meet basic needs, including drinking , cooking and hygiene. "The only water people have is basically non-potable seawater mixed with sewage," said Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). . Some are being forced to drink from farm wells, according to the non-profit organization Oxfam.

Mazen Ghunaim, head of PËA, said that without large-scale intervention, the lack of water will cause a "humanitarian catastrophe". There was a glimmer of hope this weekend when the first convoy of aid trucks loaded with water, food and medical supplies entered southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt. But Gaza only received 60,000 liters of water on Saturday, Ghunaim said. To cover the basic needs of the 2.3 million people living in the enclave, 33 million liters are needed every day, he told CNN. These first aid efforts are "just the beginning of the ocean," said Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza.

"Fuel is water"
A vital supply missing from aid convoys has been fuel. Without it, Gaza's water system is destroyed. "The fuel is water," said Hall of CSIS. "A fuel cut is a water cut."
Many of the water trucks that Gazans rely on to fill containers with water are unable to reach people's homes because they run out of fuel and because of shelling, said Omar Shaban, founder and director of the independent group. of the Gaza-based PalThink for Strategic Studies.
All five sewage treatment plants and two of the three desalination plants have stopped working. The enclave's last remaining major desalination plant, which had been shut down for nearly a week, resumed operation on Saturday but is at less than 7% of its usual capacity. While some smaller desalination units remain operational, these are local and not sufficient.
Gaza's fuel supplies could run out within 48 to 72 hours, PAA's Ghunaim said on Monday.

"We are humiliated"
For Um Haitham Hassan, who lives in a UNRAA tent in the southern city of Khan Younis, the situation is becoming unsustainable. She cannot wash her family's clothes or bathe her children. There is no water, fuel is "completely cut off", she said. "We are humiliated," she told CNN. "All our clothes, our hair, our bodies are dirty."


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