United Nations: The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a stark warning regarding the critical shortage of safe water in Gaza, emphasizing that without immediate intervention, the region faces a humanitarian catastrophe. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell stressed the life-and-death nature of the situation, stating that children in Gaza “have barely a drop to drink.”
UNICEF warned that “Children and their families are having to use water from unsafe sources that are highly salinated or polluted. Without safe water, many more children will die from deprivation and disease in the coming days.”
It is worth noting that Human Rights Watch (HRW) has declared that the Israeli government is employing starvation as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip, labeling it a war crime. HRW alleges that Israeli forces are intentionally blocking the delivery of essential supplies such as water, food, and fuel, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in the region.
The alert comes as the UN Security Council continues its discussions for a third consecutive day, seeking consensus to halt the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Gaza has endured over 10 weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment which has resulted in over 20,000 Palestinians being martyred including over 8,000 children, 6,200 women, 310 medics, and 97 journalists, while 52,586 have been injured as a direct result of the Israeli assault, and 355,00 cases of infectious diseases reported in shelters.
Furthermore, 90% of the population in Gaza is now homeless and forced to live under the open sky and 70% of the infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has intensified due to Israel’s repeated acts of collective punishment and blatant aggression, with the occupying forces committing mass killings in each targeted household.
The dire situation has severely impacted Gaza’s water production, treatment, and distribution networks. More than 1.4 million displaced Gazans sought refuge in or near facilities run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), exacerbating the strain on essential services.
UNICEF revealed that recently displaced children in southern Rafah have access to only 1.5 to two liters of water daily, well below the estimated minimum of three liters required for survival. Water services are on the brink of collapse, raising the risk of disease and deprivation.
In addition to the water crisis, UNICEF highlighted that hundreds of thousands of displaced individuals, half of them children, are in desperate need of food, shelter, medicines, and protection. Over 50% of water and sanitation facilities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, posing a significant threat to children, who are more susceptible to diseases and malnutrition.
The impact is already evident, with a surge in reported cases of diarrhea, scabies, lice, chickenpox, skin rashes, and acute respiratory infections. UNICEF’s warning underscores the urgent need for international attention and action to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
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