GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Recent water quality surveillance reveals alarming rates of microbiological contamination and a UN mission to displacement sites in Gaza City finds abysmal water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed in a new report issued on Wednesday.
According to the report, access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services continues to rapidly deteriorate in northern Gaza.
“As of early October 2024, at least 75 per cent of WASH infrastructure in areas north of Wadi Gaza, with an estimated population of 450,000 Palestinians, were estimated to be damaged, and only 20 per cent of municipal wells were assessed to be partially operational, supplying just 10 per cent of the water produced prior to the escalation of hostilities in October 2023.”
“Moreover, since the latest offensive launched by Israeli forces in North Gaza on 6 October, access to re-supply water production points in the North Gaza governorate and areas in eastern Gaza governorate, has been consistently denied by the Israeli authorities, according to the WASH Cluster, severely curtailing the ability of partners to support water pumping and distribution.”
“As a result, residents, particularly thousands in the besieged areas of Jabalya, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun, have been entirely dependent on dilapidated private wells powered by solar panels, which produce limited and often unsafe water.”
Hundreds of Gaza’s water and sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Israel began its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Damage to a major supplies depot has also severely disrupted repairs.
The lack of clean water and flows of untreated sewage pose a serious threat to health.
The Palestinian Water Authority stated that damage to Gaza’s water sector has exceeded 80 per cent, affecting wells, pumping stations, desalination plants, distribution networks and sewage treatment plants.
