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Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
Heat and thirst drive families in Gaza to drink water that makes them sick
APTOPIX Israel Palestinians Gaza Heat Water DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — After waking early to stand in line for an hour under the August heat, Rana Odeh returns to her tent with her jug of murky water. She wipes the sweat from her brow and strategizes how much to portion out to her two small children. From its color alone, she knows full well it's likely contaminated. Thirst supersedes the fear of illness. She fills small bottles for her son and daughter and pours a sip into a teacup for herself. What's left she adds to a jerrycan for later. 'We are forced to give it to our children because we have no alternative,' Odeh, who was driven from her home in Khan Younis, said of the water. 'It causes diseases for us and our children.' Such scenes have become the grim routine in Muwasi, a sprawling displacement camp in central Gaza where hundreds of thousands endure scorching summer heat. Sweat-soaked and dust-covered, parents and children chase down water trucks that come every two or three days, filling bottles, canisters and buckets and then hauling them home, sometimes on donkey-drawn carts. Each drop is rationed for drinking, cooking, cleaning or washing. Some reuse what they can and save a couple of cloudy inches in their jerrycans for whatever tomorrow brings — or doesn't. When water fails to arrive, Odeh said, she and her son fill bottles from the sea. Over the 22 months since Israel launched its offensive, Gaza's water access has been progressively strained. Limits on fuel imports and electricity have hampered the operation of desalination plants while infrastructure bottlenecks and pipeline damage choked delivery to a dribble. Gaza's aquifers became polluted by sewage and the wreckage of bombed buildings. Wells are mostly inaccessible or destroyed, aid groups and the local utility say. Meanwhile, the water crisis has helped fuel the rampant spread of disease, on top of Gaza's rising starvation. UNRWA — the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees — said Thursday that its health centers now see an average 10,300 patients a week with infectious diseases, mostly diarrhea from contaminated water. Efforts to ease the water shortage are in motion, but for many the prospect is still overshadowed by the risk of what may unfold before new supply comes. And the thirst is only growing as a heat wave bears down, with humidity and temperatures in Gaza soaring on Friday to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). Searing heat and sullied water Mahmoud al-Dibs, a father displaced from Gaza City to Muwasi, dumped water over his head from a flimsy plastic bag — one of the vessels used to carry water in the camps. 'Outside the tents it is hot and inside the tents it is hot, so we are forced to drink this water wherever we go,' he said. Al-Dibs was among many who told The Associated Press they knowingly drink non-potable water. The few people still possessing rooftop tanks can't muster enough water to clean them, so what flows from their taps is yellow and unsafe, said Bushra Khalidi, an official with Oxfam, an aid group working in Gaza. Before the war, the coastal enclave's more than 2 million residents got their water from a patchwork of sources. Some was piped in by Mekorot, Israel's national water utility. Some came from desalination plants. Some was pulled from high-saline wells, and some imported in bottles. Every source has been jeopardized. Palestinians are relying more heavily on groundwater, which today makes up more than half of Gaza's supply. The well water has historically been brackish, but still serviceable for cleaning, bathing, or farming, according to Palestinian water officials and aid groups. Now people have to drink it. The effects of drinking unclean water don't always appear right away, said Mark Zeitoun, director general of the Geneva Water Hub, a policy institute. 'Untreated sewage mixes with drinking water, and you drink that or wash your food with it, then you're drinking microbes and can get dysentery," Zeitoun said. "If you're forced to drink salty, brackish water, it just does your kidneys in, and then you're on dialysis for decades.' Deliveries average less than three liters (12.5 cups) per person per day — a fraction of the 15-liter (3.3-gallon) minimum humanitarian groups say is needed for drinking, cooking and basic hygiene. In February, acute watery diarrhea accounted for less than 20% of reported illnesses in Gaza. By July, it had surged to 44%, raising the risk of severe dehydration, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency. System breakdown Early in the war, residents said deliveries from Israel's water company Mekorot were curtailed — a claim that Israel has denied. Airstrikes destroyed some of the transmission pipelines as well as one of Gaza's three desalination plants. Bombardment and advancing troops damaged or cut off wells – to the point that today only 137 of Gaza's 392 wells are accessible, according to UNICEF. Water quality from some wells has deteriorated, fouled by sewage, the rubble of shattered buildings and the residue of spent munitions. Fuel shortages have strained the system, slowing pumps at wells and the trucks that carry water. The remaining two desalination plants have operated far below capacity or ground to a halt at times, aid groups and officials say. In recent weeks, Israel has taken some steps to reverse the damage. It delivers water via two of Mekorot's three pipelines into Gaza and reconnected one of the desalination plants to Israel's electricity grid, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told The Associated Press. Still, the plants put out far less than before the war, Monther Shoblaq, head of Gaza's Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, told AP. That has forced him to make impossible choices. The utility prioritizes getting water to hospitals and to people. But that means sometimes withholding water needed for sewage treatment, which can trigger neighborhood backups and heighten health risks. Water hasn't sparked the same global outrage as limits on food entering Gaza. But Shoblaq warned of a direct line between the crisis and potential loss of life. 'It's obvious that you can survive for some days without food, but not without water,' he said. Supply's future Water access is steadying after Israel's steps. Aid workers have grown hopeful that the situation won't get worse and could improve. Southern Gaza could get more relief from a United Arab Emirates-funded desalination plant just across the border in Egypt. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, said it has allowed equipment into the enclave to build a pipeline from the plant and deliveries could start in a few weeks. The plant wouldn't depend on Israel for power, but since Israel holds the crossings, it will control the entry of water into Gaza for the foreseeable future. But aid groups warn that access to water and other aid could be disrupted again by Israel's plans to launch a new offensive on some of the last areas outside its military control. Those areas include Gaza City and Muwasi, where much of Gaza's population is now located. In Muwasi's tent camps, people line up for the sporadic arrivals of water trucks. Hosni Shaheen, whose family was also displaced from Khan Younis, already sees the water he drinks as a last resort. 'It causes stomach cramps for adults and children, without exception," he said. 'You don't feel safe when your children drink it.' ___ Metz reported from Jerusalem. Alon Berstein contributed reporting from Kerem Shalom, Israel. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
2 minutes ago
- The Hill
Heat and thirst drive families in Gaza to drink water that makes them sick
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — After waking early to stand in line for an hour under the August heat, Rana Odeh returns to her tent with her jug of murky water. She wipes the sweat from her brow and strategizes how much to portion out to her two small children. From its color alone, she knows full well it's likely contaminated. Thirst supersedes the fear of illness. She fills small bottles for her son and daughter and pours a sip into a teacup for herself. What's left she adds to a jerrycan for later. 'We are forced to give it to our children because we have no alternative,' Odeh, who was driven from her home in Khan Younis, said of the water. 'It causes diseases for us and our children.' Such scenes have become the grim routine in Muwasi, a sprawling displacement camp in central Gaza where hundreds of thousands endure scorching summer heat. Sweat-soaked and dust-covered, parents and children chase down water trucks that come every two or three days, filling bottles, canisters and buckets and then hauling them home, sometimes on donkey-drawn carts. Each drop is rationed for drinking, cooking, cleaning or washing. Some reuse what they can and save a couple of cloudy inches in their jerrycans for whatever tomorrow brings — or doesn't. When water fails to arrive, Odeh said, she and her son fill bottles from the sea. Over the 22 months since Israel launched its offensive, Gaza's water access has been progressively strained. Limits on fuel imports and electricity have hampered the operation of desalination plants while infrastructure bottlenecks and pipeline damage choked delivery to a dribble. Gaza's aquifers became polluted by sewage and the wreckage of bombed buildings. Wells are mostly inaccessible or destroyed, aid groups and the local utility say. Meanwhile, the water crisis has helped fuel the rampant spread of disease, on top of Gaza's rising starvation. UNRWA — the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees — said Thursday that its health centers now see an average 10,300 patients a week with infectious diseases, mostly diarrhea from contaminated water. Efforts to ease the water shortage are in motion, but for many the prospect is still overshadowed by the risk of what may unfold before new supply comes. And the thirst is only growing as a heat wave bears down, with humidity and temperatures in Gaza soaring on Friday to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). Searing heat and sullied water Mahmoud al-Dibs, a father displaced from Gaza City to Muwasi, dumped water over his head from a flimsy plastic bag — one of the vessels used to carry water in the camps. 'Outside the tents it is hot and inside the tents it is hot, so we are forced to drink this water wherever we go,' he said. Al-Dibs was among many who told The Associated Press they knowingly drink non-potable water. The few people still possessing rooftop tanks can't muster enough water to clean them, so what flows from their taps is yellow and unsafe, said Bushra Khalidi, an official with Oxfam, an aid group working in Gaza. Before the war, the coastal enclave's more than 2 million residents got their water from a patchwork of sources. Some was piped in by Mekorot, Israel's national water utility. Some came from desalination plants. Some was pulled from high-saline wells, and some imported in bottles. Every source has been jeopardized. Palestinians are relying more heavily on groundwater, which today makes up more than half of Gaza's supply. The well water has historically been brackish, but still serviceable for cleaning, bathing, or farming, according to Palestinian water officials and aid groups. Now people have to drink it. The effects of drinking unclean water don't always appear right away, said Mark Zeitoun, director general of the Geneva Water Hub, a policy institute. 'Untreated sewage mixes with drinking water, and you drink that or wash your food with it, then you're drinking microbes and can get dysentery,' Zeitoun said. 'If you're forced to drink salty, brackish water, it just does your kidneys in, and then you're on dialysis for decades.' Deliveries average less than three liters (12.5 cups) per person per day — a fraction of the 15-liter (3.3-gallon) minimum humanitarian groups say is needed for drinking, cooking and basic hygiene. In February, acute watery diarrhea accounted for less than 20% of reported illnesses in Gaza. By July, it had surged to 44%, raising the risk of severe dehydration, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency. System breakdown Early in the war, residents said deliveries from Israel's water company Mekorot were curtailed — a claim that Israel has denied. Airstrikes destroyed some of the transmission pipelines as well as one of Gaza's three desalination plants. Bombardment and advancing troops damaged or cut off wells – to the point that today only 137 of Gaza's 392 wells are accessible, according to UNICEF. Water quality from some wells has deteriorated, fouled by sewage, the rubble of shattered buildings and the residue of spent munitions. Fuel shortages have strained the system, slowing pumps at wells and the trucks that carry water. The remaining two desalination plants have operated far below capacity or ground to a halt at times, aid groups and officials say. In recent weeks, Israel has taken some steps to reverse the damage. It delivers water via two of Mekorot's three pipelines into Gaza and reconnected one of the desalination plants to Israel's electricity grid, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told The Associated Press. Still, the plants put out far less than before the war, Monther Shoblaq, head of Gaza's Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, told AP. That has forced him to make impossible choices. The utility prioritizes getting water to hospitals and to people. But that means sometimes withholding water needed for sewage treatment, which can trigger neighborhood backups and heighten health risks. Water hasn't sparked the same global outrage as limits on food entering Gaza. But Shoblaq warned of a direct line between the crisis and potential loss of life. 'It's obvious that you can survive for some days without food, but not without water,' he said. Supply's future Water access is steadying after Israel's steps. Aid workers have grown hopeful that the situation won't get worse and could improve. Southern Gaza could get more relief from a United Arab Emirates-funded desalination plant just across the border in Egypt. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, said it has allowed equipment into the enclave to build a pipeline from the plant and deliveries could start in a few weeks. The plant wouldn't depend on Israel for power, but since Israel holds the crossings, it will control the entry of water into Gaza for the foreseeable future. But aid groups warn that access to water and other aid could be disrupted again by Israel's plans to launch a new offensive on some of the last areas outside its military control. Those areas include Gaza City and Muwasi, where much of Gaza's population is now located. In Muwasi's tent camps, people line up for the sporadic arrivals of water trucks. Hosni Shaheen, whose family was also displaced from Khan Younis, already sees the water he drinks as a last resort. 'It causes stomach cramps for adults and children, without exception,' he said. 'You don't feel safe when your children drink it.'
NBC News
3 minutes ago
- NBC News
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reveals new stake in beleaguered insurer UnitedHealth
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway revealed a new stake in troubled insurer UnitedHealth last quarter, according to a regulatory filing, a surprising buy because of the company's current reputation, but perhaps not considering his history of bargain investing. The Omaha-based conglomerate bought more than 5 million shares in the health care firm for a stake worth about $1.6 billion at the end of June. The stake puts it as the 18th biggest position in the Berkshire portfolio behind Amazon and Constellation Brands, according to VerityData. Berkshire's equity portfolio is worth about $300 billion, so it is possible that Buffett's two investing lieutenants Todd Combs and Ted Weschler were more responsible for this purchase rather than the 'Oracle of Omaha' himself. Buffett said one of his investment managers was behind the Amazon investment in 2019. The insurer's stock shot up 6% in extended trading following Berkshire's disclosure. Shares of UnitedHealth were down nearly 50% for 2025 through Thursday's close before Buffett's filing. The largest private health insurer has become the face of a public blowback in this country against the rising costs of health care. UnitedHealth is currently facing a Justice Department investigation into its Medicare billing practices. In May, the company pulled its annual earnings outlook and CEO Andrew Witty stepped down. Last month, UnitedHealth gave a new 2025 outlook that was well short of Wall Street estimates, hitting the stock further. Buffett, who's turning 95 this month, has been critical of the healthcare system in the U.S., calling it a 'tapeworm' on the economy due to its high costs. In 2018, he, along with Jeff Bezos and Jamie Dimon, launched a joint venture to improve healthcare for their employees and potentially for all Americans, but it was eventually shut down. UnitedHealth isn't the only stock Berkshire picked up recently. In fact, the conglomerate also took small stakes in steel manufacturer Nucor, outdoor advertising company Lamar Advertising and security firm Allegion. Berkshire also got back into homebuilders Lennar and DR Horton. Shares of Nucor jumped nearly 8% in afterhours trading, while Lennar and DR Horton popped about 3% each. Buffett also pared his positions in Bank of America and Apple. The Apple stake was cut by about 7%. Berkshire's largest positions as of the end of the second quarter were Apple, American Express, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and Chevron. The legendary investor is stepping down as Berkshire CEO at the end of the year, handing over the reins to Greg Abel. Buffett will stay on as chairman of the board. It's still unclear who will be in charge of Berkshire's gigantic equity portfolio, though Buffett has alluded that Abel will be making all capital allocation decisions at the conglomerate. UnitedHealth attracted other buyers last quarter, according to filings, including Michael Burry and Appaloosa Management's David Tepper. Shares of the insurer are trading at a price-earnings ratio of just under 12, near its lowest in more than a decade. There was speculation regarding a mystery stock Buffett was buying as Berkshire had asked for permission to keep certain holdings secret last quarter. It turns out the secret stock was a combination of multiple positions and likely the stakes added in DR Horton, Nucor and Lennar 'A' shares.
