Gazans forced to drink dirty water as Israel's onslaught continues

GAZA

Palestinians from the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip queue by a water tanker, plastic containers in hand.

For many of them, the wait will be futile.

The water tanker has limited capacity and cannot provide water for the hundreds of Palestinians who spend long hours waiting every day.

The Gaza Strip suffers from a severe water crisis due to the destruction of infrastructure in the ongoing war.

The situation is particularly dire in the northern governorates of the enclave.

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Israel has cut off water, food, medicine, electricity, and fuel supplies for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.

Desalination facilities and sewage networks in Gaza have been disrupted due to fuel and electricity shortages since mid-October last year, according to the Palestinian Water Authority.

The UN has repeatedly warned of the spread of diseases due to the water crisis, coupled with a lack of hygiene supplies.

Christian Lindmeier, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, told Anadolu: "People in Gaza are living a catastrophe, exposed to death from hunger, malnutrition, thirst, or from bullets, injuries, and buildings collapsing over their heads."

Polluted Water

At another area of the camp, Palestinians crowd around one of the water lines destroyed by the Israeli army, trying to fill directly from there.

Karam Abu Nada, a Palestinian in his 30s waiting his turn to fill water from the destroyed line, says that camp residents "gather to get water despite its contamination."

He told Anadolu that they usually use polluted water for washing, cleaning, and cooking.

Sometimes they wait up to 10 days to procure this water, he said.

Gazans are forced to ration water consumption as it is only available every few days. They minimize the amounts used for bathing, washing dishes, and cleaning.

Abu Nada says polluted water is affecting them, especially children, causing intestinal and skin diseases amid a lack of medicines to treat them.

Widespread disease

Raed Radwan, a 50-year-old Palestinian from Gaza City, says his family has been facing a continuous water crisis.

"We obtain water by filling a few plastic gallons from one of the clubs in the area where we reside, which pumps water from a private well once every 3-4 days due to a shortage of fuel," he said.

He said the quantity they receive is not enough to meet his family's needs even for a single day, forcing them to reduce their consumption.

"Before the war, this water was used only for washing dishes and cleaning, but today we use it for drinking, which has caused us several diseases ranging from gastrointestinal infections to kidney diseases and dehydration," he said.

He condemned the world's silence over what the Palestinians are facing.

Yusuf Hamad, 25, who fled from northeastern Beit Hanoun town to one of the shelter centers in Jabalia, said that thousands of displaced people are suffering from health conditions due to water scarcity.

He told Anadolu: "We have been suffering from a severe water crisis for more than three months, as we receive small portions every few days due to the shortage of fuel."

He said the lack of water has led to the majority of displaced people, especially children, contracting gastrointestinal and skin diseases due to a lack of hygiene.

Local and international health institutions have repeatedly warned of the spread of diseases and epidemics among the displaced due to the lack of water necessary for their protection from diseases.

Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, leaving until Monday 26,637 killed and 65,387 wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian authorities.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul