UAE begins Gaza water pipeline project
The United Arab Emirates has begun construction on a major pipeline to carry desalinated water from Egypt to southern Gaza, according to multiple sources.
Technical teams sent by the UAE have started transporting equipment needed for the project, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported on Wednesday.
The nearly seven-kilometre (4.5-mile) pipeline aims to help alleviate what WAM described as a "water crisis" in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier this week, COGAT — the Israeli defence ministry body overseeing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories — said construction of the pipeline would begin in the coming days and was expected to take weeks.
The project would link a desalination plant in Egypt to the Al-Mawasi area along Gaza's coast and could supply about 600,000 people daily, COGAT said.
WAM said the UAE had launched "several initiatives to drill and rehabilitate potable water wells".
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