Dire water shortages compound hunger and displacement in Gaza
Gaza was already suffering a water crisis before nearly 22 months of war between Israel and Hamas damaged more than 80 percent of the territory's water infrastructure.
"Sometimes, I feel like my body is drying from the inside, thirst is stealing all my energy and that of my children," Um Nidal Abu Nahl, a mother of four living in Gaza City, told AFP.
Water trucks sometimes reach residents and NGOs install taps in camps for a lucky few, but it is far from sufficient.
Israel connected some water mains in north Gaza to the Israeli water company Mekorot, after cutting off supplies early in the war, but residents told AFP water still wasn't flowing.
Local authorities said this was due to war damage to Gaza's water distribution network, with many mains pipes destroyed.
Gaza City spokesman Assem al-Nabih told AFP that the municipality's part of the network supplied by Mekorot had not functioned in nearly two weeks.
Wells that supplied some needs before the war have also been damaged, with some contaminated by sewage which goes untreated because of the conflict.
Many wells in Gaza are simply not accessible, because they are inside active combat zones, too close to Israeli military installations or in areas subject to evacuation orders.
At any rate, wells usually run on electric pumps and energy has been scarce since Israel turned off Gaza's power as part of its war effort.
Generators could power the pumps, but hospitals are prioritised for the limited fuel deliveries.
Lastly, Gaza's desalination plants are down, save for a single site reopened last week after Israel restored its electricity supply.
- Sewage floods -
Nabih, from the Gaza City municipality, told AFP the infrastructure situation was bleak.
More than 75 percent of wells are out of service, 85 percent of public works equipment destroyed, 100,000 metres of water mains damaged and 200,000 metres of sewers unusable.
Pumping stations are down and 250,000 tons of rubbish is clogging the streets.
"Sewage floods the areas where people live due to the destruction of infrastructure," says Mohammed Abu Sukhayla from the northern city of Jabalia.
In order to find water, hundreds of thousands of people are still trying to extract groundwater directly from wells.
But coastal Gaza's aquifer is naturally brackish and far exceeds salinity standards for potable water.
In 2021, the UN children's agency UNICEF warned that nearly 100 percent of Gaza's groundwater was unfit for consumption.
With clean water nearly impossible to find, some Gazans falsely believe brackish water to be free of bacteria.
Aid workers in Gaza have had to warn repeatedly that even if residents can get used to the taste, their kidneys will inevitably suffer.
- Spreading diseases -
Though Gaza's water crisis has received less media attention than the ongoing hunger one, its effects are just as deadly.
"Just like food, water should never be used for political ends," UNICEF spokeswoman Rosalia Bollen said.
She told AFP that, while it's very difficult to quantify the water shortage, "there is a severe lack of drinking water".
"It's extremely hot, diseases are spreading and water is truly the issue we're not talking about enough," she added.
Opportunities to get clean water are as dangerous as they are rare.
On July 13, as a crowd had gathered around a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, at least eight people were killed by an Israeli strike, according to Gaza's civil defence agency.
A United Arab Emirates-led project authorised by Israel is expected to bring a 6.7-kilometre pipeline from an Egyptian desalination plant to the coastal area of Al-Mawasi, in Gaza's south.
The project is controversial within the humanitarian community, because some see it as a way of justifying the concentration of displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza.
-'Fear and helplessness'-
On July 24, a committee representing Gaza's prominent families issued a cry for help, calling for "the immediate provision of water and humanitarian aid, the rapid repair of infrastructure, and a guarantee for the entry of fuel".
Gaza aid workers that AFP spoke to stressed that there was no survival without drinking water, and no disease prevention without sanitation.
"The lack of access, the general deterioration of the situation in an already fragile environment -- at the very least, the challenges are multiplying," a diplomatic source working on these issues told AFP.
Mahmoud Deeb, 35, acknowledged that the water he finds in Gaza City is often undrinkable, but his family has no alternative.
"We know it's polluted, but what can we do? I used to go to water distribution points carrying heavy jugs on my back, but even those places were bombed," he added.
At home, everyone is thirsty -- a sensation he associated with "fear and helplessness."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Palestinian-Australian principal takes six months' stress leave after more than 100 family members die in Gaza
In his lush Gold Coast backyard, Sami Muamar is haunted by a nightmare that's set a world away in Gaza. In a recurring dream, he's safe in Australia while his sister and extended family are drowning in hellfire. "It is literally hell. Hell, because they live in a tent, there is no clean water, and in the tent, it's hot, they can't even have air," said Mr Muamar, the principal at one of Australia's largest Islamic schools on the south side of Brisbane. Every time he picks up his phone, he receives reminders that his family back home is living on a cup of lentils a day — if they're lucky — and he dreams of being able to rescue them. "It's just a nightmare and it's not for one week, two weeks, three weeks. It is for almost two years," he said. Mr Muamar has tried unsuccessfully to secure his sister a visa to join him in Australia and while he sends money overseas, he's wracked with guilt and helplessness that he's not doing more. "When I look at the group chat, I think of my sister, and I can show you her photos, I talked to her the other day, she's skin and bone from hunger, there's no food," Mr Muamar said. "I said, 'What do you eat?' And she started crying." Mr Muamar said he stopped counting the numbers of his extended family who have been killed in the conflict when the total reached 130. He provided the ABC with names for 112 relatives and said all but one had been killed in air strikes. The ABC was able to verify that 103 of those names are listed on a Gaza Ministry of Health database, which contains the names of 58,380 people reportedly killed during the conflict. The database comes with the disclaimer it does not include all of those to die in the conflict. A devout Muslim, Mr Muamar is comforted by his belief that his dead relatives are being cared for in the afterlife, but that's no solace for the living. "The loss is not only for my family, it is for every single family actually. I know people in Brisbane that lost similar numbers to us." Mr Muamar left the Gaza strip in 2002 and said he had no "real connection" with some of his lost relatives. Others, like his cousin Tamim Abu Muammar, he's known since birth and their deaths cut to the bone. Tamim Muammar, his wife and three daughters were reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike while his two young sons survived. "He's the one I grew up with, we played together when we were children, we [went] to school together and he was a really good man," Mr Muamar said. "It hit me so much when I lost him, it's just really difficult to think of him, his wife, his kids, they are like five years old." Another cousin, Salih Mahmood Muamar, was among 14 paramedics killed and buried in a mass grave in March. An Israeli investigation led to the sacking of a deputy commander and a report detailing "professional failures". For Mr Muamar and many others in Australia, these deaths are observed in real time on family group chats. Two weeks ago, he received blow-by-blow updates about his nephew Ahmed Mahmoud Muamar, also a teacher, who was buried under rubble after leaving his tent to seek food. "My nephew … went to go get a kilo or two kilos of flour from the Israeli-American humanitarian station, they call it, and while he was going home — he did not get anything — he is shelled with the rockets," Mr Muamar said. "Luckily he managed to get out of the rubble after six or seven hours, they got him out. He lost two of his kneecaps, two broken legs, lots of bruises." He said that final sleepless night waiting for an update was, "the straw that broke the camel's back". After 22 months of war, Mr Muamar is exhausted and has reluctantly stepped down as principal to restore his mental health after struggling to sleep and focus. He wants the wider community to know other Palestinian Australians are suffering and is speaking up because the current war seems interminable. "What has been happening is literally a genocide. It is an ethnic cleansing," Mr Muamar said. "At the beginning I understand the reaction of Israel, I understand it's a normal revenge." Israel has denied allegations of genocide and ethnic cleansing. An estimated 50 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive, kidnapped in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that started the war. Dr Mohamed Mustafa is a Palestinian Australian and one of the few people in Australia who has seen the destruction inside Gaza. The trainee doctor just returned from the second of two visits since the start of the war volunteering as an emergency doctor. "You're working in a concentration camp, no food, no water, no electricity. You're not allowed to bring in medical supplies with you, 2,000-pound bombs are going off hundreds of metres away from you," Dr Mustafa said. Dr Mustafa also has a wife in Gaza and knows the pain of searching for updates on loved ones. "We have times where the communication goes down for three days and you just look at the news and you see where the bombs drop," Dr Mustafa said. "To watch it unfold in real time, to watch it live-streamed on our phones, I don't think anyone has been in this unique position to watch the destruction of their families and their homes … it makes it very hard to be a Palestinian." Dr Mustafa said his community feels dehumanised by their representation in the media. Back at the Islamic College of Brisbane, CEO Dr Ali Kadri supports Mr Muamar's decision, even though the school starts term three without its principal. Mr Kadri is a leader in his community who turned down an approach to be the federal government's Islamophobia envoy. He said it was an important time to recognise the suffering in parts of the Australian community. He said the most important thing people can do now is empathise. Back at Mr Muamar's house, he's retreated to his garden and is hoping he'll find some peace. "When you plant a seed and you see it coming back it gives you hope of life," Mr Muamar said. "What I've seen of Gaza, it's destructive. I have hope of planting a seed and making something new. It makes you think there is hope for coexistence."
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- SBS Australia
Inside Sudan's besieged city of Al-Fashir as famine takes hold
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . Women praying -singing in Arabic A prayer for food in Sudan's besieged city of Al-Fashir. The city has been cut off from the world by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for more than 15 months. Mohamed Dodah, a refugee and Zaghawa community leader, says daily battles have wreaked havoc on the capital of the North Darfur region. "One and a half million civilians are suffering from the ravages of artillery and drone shelling, as well as shrapnel from the fighting on the outskirts of the city." But it's not the fighting that has most civilians in the city concerned. "Frankly, the citizens are suffering extremely harshly, especially in Autumn. These houses do not provide shelter or cover. These children are not eating, even the main meal is not available." The United Nations says half of Sudan's 50 million population is facing acute hunger after more than two years of civil war between R-S-F militants and the Sudanese army. In the western region of Darfur the U-N has declared famine in 11 locations, with UNICEF estimating more than 330,000 people are facing malnutrition in the city of Al-Fashir alone due to a total blockade of aid by R-S-F militants. Nathaniel Raymond, a human rights investigator who leads the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, has worked with the U-N to better understand the hunger crisis. " In Gaza, people have been without aid delivery for three months. In the case of Al-Fashir, they have been in a state of humanitarian siege now since the spring of 2024 so over a year. The famine review committee of the United Nations declared an IPC five event, which is the highest degree of famine, which our team at the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale assisted them in declaring the situation." UN spokesman Farhan Haq says civilians in Al-Fashir are at a breaking point. "Local sources say people are dying from hunger and malnutrition. Community-run kitchens have shut down due to lack of food stocks, and some residents have reportedly resorted to consuming animal feed." Mohamed Dodah says peanut oil waste, typically used for pet feed, is the primary source of food in Al-Fashir and locals are allowed only one meal a day. "If you got eat breakfast, you'll wait for next day to eat another meal even if breakfast or lunch. They're suffering right now. They're dying daily." As a child, Mohamed's village was destroyed by Arab militias who targeted his tribe, the Zaghawa people, along with the Masalit and Fur tribes. These militias later became the Rapid Support Forces. In April, the RSF raided Mohamed's home in the Zamzam displacement camp, where he says they set fire to the camp and even killed foreign aid workers. "The entire Relief International staff had been wiped out, including the camp director and nine other employees. I found their bodies stacked, each with a bullet wound to the head." Mohamed fled to the last city in Darfur not under RSF control - Al-Fashir. While both the military and the RSF have been accused of war crimes in the current conflict, some human rights groups as well as the United States say the paramilitary group has committed genocide in Darfur - a claim the militia denies. Nathaniel Raymond's team at Yale have monitored alleged war crimes in Darfur using ultra high resolution satellites and sensors provided by NASA and the European Space Agency. "It's very easy to make assessments due to the remote sensing data. We monitor cemeteries and Al-Fashir and over the past year those cemeteries have been growing exponentially. We can watch them bury their loved ones from space. Additionally, we can see damage to feeding centres, hospitals, mosques, and other critical humanitarian infrastructure. We are watching Al-Fashir be murdered from 450 miles above the Earth's service." Algaly Abdelrasoul lives in Sydney but his uncle, aunt and extended family are trapped in the city. He's only able to get through to his uncle on occasion, hearing glimpses of the violence. "So basically he says this one's doing well. This one has passed away. This one's wounded. This one is gone somewhere. This one we haven't spoken to, we don't know where they are. This is kind of the norm. I say tell me more. What is happening? How are you feeling? He just tells me, you know what, we just survived another day. He sees it as I just need to survive." When asked if it's possible for his uncle to escape the starved city, which is surrounded by the RSF, he says there's no safe way out of Al-Fashir. "Men, you can't. Women and kids, if they show mercy and that's a risk. They might kill you, they might rape you. If they feel like letting you go, if you're lucky enough, you might be able to escape to a surroundings town. It's a very delicate situation. Because if you stay in, if you're not being killed by the RSF, you're dying of hunger, starvation, lack of medical assistance is also a big issue. They're just holding on for dear life." But the Sudanese Armed Forces and the civilians within the city may not be able to hold out for much longer. "At this point, it's a matter of time unless there's a major change in SAF's military strength. Most of the city has been reduced to rubble. By our calculations, more than 40 per cent of the city has been destroyed by RSF bombardment and attacks and Sudan, armed forces airstrikes and artillery bombardment to try to target the rapid support forces. The civilians have been caught in the crossfire at this point. There is no food in the city." Mohamed Dodah believes he will be killed, or at a minimum held hostage, if the city falls. "If they control Al-Fashir, there will be killing and raping and kidnapping. Firstly, they will kill the leaders. They will catch me, put me in a prison and - if not kill me - you will need money to free me." And after peace talks between regional powers broke down in Washington last week, the desperate civilians of Al-Fashir are begging the world to intervene and finally break the 15-month siege. "If you don't rescue us, I swear by God, no treatment or hospitals are available, only death. We have nothing left for us but death."
News.com.au
3 days ago
- News.com.au
Dire water shortages compound hunger and displacement in Gaza
Atop air strikes, displacement and hunger, an unprecedented water crisis is unfolding across Gaza, heaping further misery on the Palestinian territory's residents. Gaza was already suffering a water crisis before nearly 22 months of war between Israel and Hamas damaged more than 80 percent of the territory's water infrastructure. "Sometimes, I feel like my body is drying from the inside, thirst is stealing all my energy and that of my children," Um Nidal Abu Nahl, a mother of four living in Gaza City, told AFP. Water trucks sometimes reach residents and NGOs install taps in camps for a lucky few, but it is far from sufficient. Israel connected some water mains in north Gaza to the Israeli water company Mekorot, after cutting off supplies early in the war, but residents told AFP water still wasn't flowing. Local authorities said this was due to war damage to Gaza's water distribution network, with many mains pipes destroyed. Gaza City spokesman Assem al-Nabih told AFP that the municipality's part of the network supplied by Mekorot had not functioned in nearly two weeks. Wells that supplied some needs before the war have also been damaged, with some contaminated by sewage which goes untreated because of the conflict. Many wells in Gaza are simply not accessible, because they are inside active combat zones, too close to Israeli military installations or in areas subject to evacuation orders. At any rate, wells usually run on electric pumps and energy has been scarce since Israel turned off Gaza's power as part of its war effort. Generators could power the pumps, but hospitals are prioritised for the limited fuel deliveries. Lastly, Gaza's desalination plants are down, save for a single site reopened last week after Israel restored its electricity supply. - Sewage floods - Nabih, from the Gaza City municipality, told AFP the infrastructure situation was bleak. More than 75 percent of wells are out of service, 85 percent of public works equipment destroyed, 100,000 metres of water mains damaged and 200,000 metres of sewers unusable. Pumping stations are down and 250,000 tons of rubbish is clogging the streets. "Sewage floods the areas where people live due to the destruction of infrastructure," says Mohammed Abu Sukhayla from the northern city of Jabalia. In order to find water, hundreds of thousands of people are still trying to extract groundwater directly from wells. But coastal Gaza's aquifer is naturally brackish and far exceeds salinity standards for potable water. In 2021, the UN children's agency UNICEF warned that nearly 100 percent of Gaza's groundwater was unfit for consumption. With clean water nearly impossible to find, some Gazans falsely believe brackish water to be free of bacteria. Aid workers in Gaza have had to warn repeatedly that even if residents can get used to the taste, their kidneys will inevitably suffer. - Spreading diseases - Though Gaza's water crisis has received less media attention than the ongoing hunger one, its effects are just as deadly. "Just like food, water should never be used for political ends," UNICEF spokeswoman Rosalia Bollen said. She told AFP that, while it's very difficult to quantify the water shortage, "there is a severe lack of drinking water". "It's extremely hot, diseases are spreading and water is truly the issue we're not talking about enough," she added. Opportunities to get clean water are as dangerous as they are rare. On July 13, as a crowd had gathered around a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, at least eight people were killed by an Israeli strike, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. A United Arab Emirates-led project authorised by Israel is expected to bring a 6.7-kilometre pipeline from an Egyptian desalination plant to the coastal area of Al-Mawasi, in Gaza's south. The project is controversial within the humanitarian community, because some see it as a way of justifying the concentration of displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza. -'Fear and helplessness'- On July 24, a committee representing Gaza's prominent families issued a cry for help, calling for "the immediate provision of water and humanitarian aid, the rapid repair of infrastructure, and a guarantee for the entry of fuel". Gaza aid workers that AFP spoke to stressed that there was no survival without drinking water, and no disease prevention without sanitation. "The lack of access, the general deterioration of the situation in an already fragile environment -- at the very least, the challenges are multiplying," a diplomatic source working on these issues told AFP. Mahmoud Deeb, 35, acknowledged that the water he finds in Gaza City is often undrinkable, but his family has no alternative. "We know it's polluted, but what can we do? I used to go to water distribution points carrying heavy jugs on my back, but even those places were bombed," he added. At home, everyone is thirsty -- a sensation he associated with "fear and helplessness."
