Israel’s Siege, Attacks Worsen Gaza’s Water Crisis

“We can’t find water,” resident Mohammed Raqiba said. “The whole area is surviving on this water hose. Around 20,000 families drink from this water hose.”

Palestinian mothers sheltering in schools and hospitals in central Gaza have reported children being dehydrated and severely underweight.

The mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old boy, Yamen Mohammed Hajjaj, said she was displaced from the Shujaiya neighborhood to al-Nuseirat camp and suffered from dehydration and diarrhea after staying in a UNRWA school.

Another woman said her child had contracted gastroenteritis and lost half her weight as a result of a lack of nutrition.

One of the medical centers in the Nuseirat camp became overcrowded as families come with their sick children looking for help.

The World Health Organization has said that more than 33,551 cases of diarrhea had been reported since mid-October, the majority of which were among children aged under five.

As part of Israel’s war on Gaza, it laid a “total siege” on the already besieged enclave, stopping food, water and medical supplies from entering the Strip. While aid trucks have been allowed in, the amount of help coming in is not enough to assist all those in need amid the intensifying Israeli attacks.

The meeting of world leaders in Paris has begun to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Palestine. This includes bringing in much-needed supplies such as food, water, medical supplies, and fuel. It will also include the evacuation of the injured from Gaza.

A maritime humanitarian aid corridor, which would bring in supplies and evacuate the injured via Cyprus, is one of the proposals under consideration. All discussions about aid, however, are meaningless unless there is at least a brief ceasefire, a measure that a growing chorus of world leaders have supported while failing to act.