Gaza (UNA/WAFA) – As the summer heat intensifies, thirst and water scarcity are casting a shadow over all aspects of life in all governorates of the Gaza Strip, amid a real crisis that citizens have been suffering from for nearly 20 months. According to UN statistics, 90% of them cannot access potable water, amid a near-total collapse of the water and sewage systems.
As soon as citizens hear the sounds of water trucks' horns, they begin to gather around them, carrying gallons, containers, and the remains of canned food, each one of them jostling with the other to fill their containers with water, which has become exhausting and tiring to obtain in light of the severe scarcity of water resources. This is due to the intransigence of the occupation, its prevention of the entry of diesel and fuel, its cutting off of electricity, and its deliberate targeting of wells and water sources, to create a state of thirst, parallel to the state of famine that the Strip is experiencing.
Citizen Mahmoud Al-Arja says, "We are dying of thirst in a deadly heatwave, with famine intensifying, and citizens being deprived of the most basic necessities of human life, including food, drink, and clothing. The occupation is flouting all international and humanitarian laws and fighting Gaza in every aspect of life."
Al-Arja continues, explaining that the Gaza Strip is on the brink of a man-made drought, with water sources being bombed, water tankers targeted, and solar panels and generators used to extract water being bombed. He expresses hope that the war will end and that things will return to normal, as they were before the aggression on the Strip began more than twenty consecutive months ago.
Citizen Ibrahim Al-Doush says, "We have endured hardships, preferred ourselves, and endured the harsh life the Gaza Strip is going through. However, this has exceeded our expectations and reached a difficult stage where people are being targeted in their daily livelihood and means of survival."
Al-Doush adds, "I wish I could see water in the tap, as most of the water tanks in the Gaza Strip haven't been filled for more than a year and a half." He continues, "We are experiencing a state of austerity and severe water rationing due to the difficulty of obtaining it, especially since the majority of the wells that feed citizens are located in areas from which they were forced to flee, which has created a severe crisis with the escalation of the war and the heat together."
Citizen Tawfiq Abu Taha says, "We see our children withering away before our eyes from hunger and thirst. We are no longer able to protect them or provide them with first aid, given the severe shortage of clean, safe water, food shortages, worsening famine, and forcing citizens to go to death traps to obtain food. We no longer have a choice but to go there and obtain what will help us continue to live."
Abu Taha says, “The saying that no one dies of hunger and thirst is truly incorrect. In Gaza, young and old are dying of hunger, thirst, and dehydration.”
As for citizen Yousef Abu Al-Kas, he says, “As soon as I hear the sound of water trucks approaching my tent, I rush out, carrying gallons and taking my children with me, to fetch water, which has become difficult to obtain, given the severe crowding around the trucks and the lack of water sources.”
He adds: "I can stand in line to fill up water without getting a single drop, as these trucks empty the water to whoever arrives first, and then sometimes disappear for several days without returning, forcing us to buy water at high prices, reaching nearly 40 shekels per cup, and up to 4 shekels per gallon. This is exhausting and difficult, given the harsh financial conditions in Gaza and the liquidity crisis."
UNICEF spokesman James Elder announced that 60% of Gaza's drinking water production facilities are out of service, exposing residents to the risk of a politically engineered drought.
Elder said that children in the Gaza Strip will begin to die of thirst, and we are far from emergency standards for drinking water, and the man-made drought can be stopped if fuel is available, adding that the fuel shortage due to the blockade has led to the disruption of desalination and pumping stations, thus collapsing the water supply.
Meanwhile, the Water Authority said that water extraction in Gaza has decreased by 70-80% compared to pre-war levels, and the Strip is dying of thirst.
Local sources reported that approximately 75% of the Gaza Municipality's water wells were severely damaged, that Gaza residents are not receiving a sufficient daily supply of water, and that the municipality is only able to supply water to less than 50% of the municipality's area.
She noted that the Deir al-Balah Municipality in the central Gaza Strip has issued an urgent appeal before the water supply is completely cut off unless intervention is made to deliver a minimum amount of water. She noted that the municipality is working to provide water through wells, the last remaining source.
She added that 18 water wells are being operated in Deir al-Balah to provide water, and that they require 2500 liters of diesel each day. She predicted that we might not last more than a week if we are not supplied with diesel.
She added that Khan Yunis Governorate, which is home to a large number of citizens and internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Khan Yunis and Rafah who fled the destruction of their city, is also suffering from a severe water shortage, especially after the occupation forces targeted the water sources there and bombed the Mekorot water pipelines that feed it from Israel.
The occupation has been waging a war of starvation and thirst against our people since October 7, 2023, with the tightening of the siege, the prevention of humanitarian aid from entering, and the direct and systematic targeting of food distribution centers around which the starving gather. Their journey to obtain food during the aggression has become a journey of death. Those who do not die of hunger will die from the bombing.
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