- Gaza was already facing a water crisis before the war
- Water, food and electricity supplies were disrupted by the blockade
- Some residents dig wells and are forced to drink salty water
- Fears of a health crisis as trash piles up on the streets
GAZA, Oct 16 (Portal) – As Israeli airstrikes pounded the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground offensive, the enclave’s residents grew more desperate by the hour as water ran out, trash piled up, houses were leveled by explosions and hospitals were struggling with the situation.
Desperate to get drinking water, some people began digging wells in seaside areas or relied on salty tap water from Gaza’s only aquifer, which is contaminated with sewage and seawater.
Two residents of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip volunteered to fill plastic containers with water to distribute to displaced families.
Some residents prayed for an end to the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has raised fears of a wider Middle East conflict.
They said the overnight airstrikes were the heaviest in nine days of conflict. Many houses were razed to the ground. Gaza authorities said at least 2,750 people, mostly civilians, including more than 700 children, were killed and nearly 10,000 injured. Another 1,000 people were missing, presumably under rubble.
Israel has imposed a full blockade as it prepares for a ground attack in Gaza. Israeli troops and tanks are gathered at the border.
They have vowed to destroy Hamas, which rules the enclave, in retaliation for a rampage by its fighters in Israeli cities nine days ago in which its militants killed 1,300 civilians, including children, and took hostages, in the worst attack on civilians in the history of the country. According to the Israeli military, at least 291 soldiers were killed.
Medical and emergency services, as well as some graphic mobile phone footage, reported atrocities being committed in the overrun towns and kibbutz.
Hamas has continued to fire rockets at Israel since its cross-border attack. Rocket warning sirens sounded in several cities in southern Israel on Monday, the Israeli military said.
Diplomatic efforts are underway to bring aid to the enclave via Egypt.
“Gaza is running out of water and electricity. In fact, Gaza is being strangled and it seems that the world has currently lost its humanity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.
Hamas said on Monday that Israel had not resumed water deliveries to Gaza despite its promise. An Israeli official said some water was being supplied to an area in the south of the enclave.
[1/5]Palestinians walk past piles of trash that threaten to trigger an environmental disaster amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Portal/Mohammed Salem acquire license rights
Amid international calls for a ceasefire to allow aid deliveries, Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said there would be no end to the siege without the release of the Israeli hostages. The Israeli military said Monday that 199 people were being held hostage in Gaza.
Fears of a health crisis
Gaza is one of the most populated places on earth, and right now there is no way out. Egypt, which also shares a border with the enclave, has so far resisted calls to open the enclave to fleeing residents.
“There is no water because of the large number of people in the camp. So I thought I would volunteer, come with a rickshaw and fetch the water from the far away areas, the dangerous areas,” said Mohammad Saqr.
“Now let’s fill in salt water, I’m ready to drink from the salt water – what else can we do?” Saqr said.
According to the Palestinian Water Authority, 90 percent of the water was already undrinkable before the latest conflict broke out and Israel cut off electricity and fresh water supplies to the Gaza Strip.
The territory’s only aquifer is contaminated by sewage, chemicals and seawater as well as neighborhood desalination plants, and its public taps are a lifesaver for some of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
Even the 10% of the aquifer’s water that is considered drinkable is often mixed with poor quality water during distribution, making it suitable only for washing.
Many families living in Gaza have chosen to drill private wells that draw water deep underground, and a small number who can afford it tend to buy bottled water. Others buy cheaper filtered treated water from watercraft that cruise the streets.
Trash is also piling up on the streets and in shelters for displaced people, fueling fears of a health crisis.
“If the garbage continues to pile up, it will cause diseases and pandemics,” said Mohammad Hadhoud, a cleaning worker from Khan Younis.
In overcrowded hospitals where medicine and fuel are running low due to the blockade, doctors are scrambling to help a growing number of patients, including children, injured in the airstrikes. Only the most acute cases are operated on because there are not enough resources, doctors say.
Writing by Michael Geordie; Editing by Janet Lawrence
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