In the Gaza Strip, the population, whose living conditions are increasingly difficult, lacks everything, particularly drinking water. According to local authorities, only 10% of drinking water remains in the Palestinian enclave.
Around 90% of drinking water in the Gaza Strip, under siege since October 9, has been lost, authorities have warned. Much of the infrastructure and water wells were destroyed by Israeli bombing. For the United Nations, the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe is a harbinger of certain collapse.
Hamas spokesperson Basem Naim said at a press conference in Lebanon’s Beirut: “We warn of the current catastrophic situation in Gaza,” where 90 percent of drinking water has been destroyed. been lost, forcing citizens to use contaminated water or, sometimes, sea water, which could lead to the spread of diseases and epidemics.
Naim held the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and its administration responsible for the “humanitarian catastrophe”, particularly for residents of Gaza City and its areas. northern. “The agency in these areas has bowed to the demands of the occupation, abandoned its positions and neglected its responsibilities towards hundreds of thousands of residents and refugees, leaving them without shelter, without food, without water or without medical care, while it is responsible for caring for and protecting more than 70% of the refugees in the Gaza Strip,” he explained.
The Gaza Strip threatened with collapse
Intense Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and fighting with Palestinian armed groups continues to hamper humanitarian aid operations, with reports on the ground of children begging for water and people cutting down telephone poles to make firewood indicate that “society is on the verge of collapse”, UN humanitarian agencies said on Friday.
The Gazans are being “forced into a horrible scenario” as part of a “cruel campaign” waged by Israel against them in retaliation for the bloody Hamas attacks of October 7, said Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson. Opens in a new window, the United Nations health agency.
“The situation in Gaza is beyond comprehension,” he stressed, insisting that the Palestinian enclave “cannot afford to lose” one more ambulance or hospital. The World Health Organization (WHO) has documented 212 attacks on healthcare in the Gaza Strip since October 7, affecting 56 facilities and 59 ambulances.