The director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned this Wednesday that without clean water, “many more children” will soon die of disease.
“Access to sufficient clean water is a matter of life and death… the children of Gaza get a drop to drink,” explained the executive director of UNICEF.
“Children and their families They are forced to use water from unsafe sources that is highly salinized or contaminated. “Without clean water, many more children will die from lack and disease in the coming days,” added Catherine Russell.
The humanitarian warning comes after more than 10 weeks of almost continuous bombardment of the enclave in response to Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and held more than 240 hostage.
To escape bombings that have severely affected Gaza's water production, treatment and distribution networks, more than 1.4 million uprooted Gazans have sought refuge in facilities run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA , managed or located near them.
Survival mode
However, UNICEF said children were recently displaced in the southern Rafah governorate They only have 1.5 to two liters of water a dayand that the water supply is “on the verge of collapse.” “For survival alone, the estimated minimum is three liters per day.”
Just as worrying as the lack of drinking water are the “hundreds of thousands” of displaced people, half of them childrenwho continue to “urgently” need food, shelter, medicine and protection, the agency emphasized.
At least 50% of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities that provide basic services have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza, while UNICEF warns that the impact of this situation on children is particularly worrying as they are more vulnerable to diarrhoea, disease and malnutrition.
“Authorities have already recorded almost twenty times the monthly average number of cases of diarrhea in children under five, in addition to…” Increase in cases of scabies, lice, chickenpox, skin rashes and more than 160,000 cases of acute respiratory infections“he added.
Relief measures
Since the start of the crisis, UNICEF and its partners have provided fuel for the operation of wells, desalination plants, water tankers and waste and sanitation, as well as bottled water and water containers to more than 1.3 million people.
In addition, they have distributed more than 45,000 canisters as well as at least 130,000 family hygiene kits, including menstrual health and hygiene products and hundreds of thousands of bars of soap.
The agency emphasized the need for generators to operate water and sanitation systems, as well as plastic pipes to repair broken pipes. However, Their entry into Gaza continues to be prevented due to “access restrictions.”.
“Constant bombing and material and fuel limitations are preventing crucial progress,” Russell stressed in a tweet.
First convoy from Jordan
The first convoy managed to enter the Gaza Strip with the help of Jordan with 750 tons of food.
The convoy of 46 trucks, organized by the World Food Program and a Jordanian NGO, could pave the way for a more sustainable corridor through Jordan and enable the delivery of larger aid supplies.
“Establishing a corridor through Jordan will increase the flow of aid and relieve some of the pressure and congestion we are currently facing. This will allow us to secure more supplies and have more trucks on the road,” said WFP representative in Palestine, Samer Abdeljaber.
They are calling for a pause in fighting
The reports come amid increasing international pressure for a renewed cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip so that more aid can be delivered to the most vulnerable.
The first break lasted from November 24th to December 1st.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini recently warned that desperate people “out of complete desperation have started taking food straight from the truck and eating it right there,” while groups of people were seen on social media stopping the trucks, stopping aid convoys and removed supplies.
“There are many makeshift shelters everywhere you look. Wherever you go, People are desperate, hungry and scaredLazzarini told reporters in Geneva.
Citing Gaza health authorities, UNRWA said in its latest update on the crisis that More than 19,450 Palestinians were killed in hostilities according to health authorities and “around”. 70% are women and children“.