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Rights advocates sound alarm on deteriorating water situation in Gaza

Ruba Shabit
Press TV, Gaza

Human rights organizations have sounded the alarm on the deteriorating water situation in the Gaza Strip which threatens the lives of each residents in the impoverished enclave.  

Human rights organizations warn that the long-term Israeli blockade has led to deterioration of water crisis in Gaza, making the enclave’s water undrinkable. 

The organizations also said the crisis has led to poisoning of the residents of the besieged enclave. The situation was exacerbated by an acute electricity crisis that hampered the operation of water wells and sewage treatment plants, leading about 80 percent of Gaza’s untreated sewage to be discharged into the sea while 20 percent seeps into underground water.

Israel’s attacks on Gaza last May have doubled the crisis as the attacks pounded the enclave’s already crumbling infrastructure. This presents a serious threat to the Gaza population’s health, where recent data indicates that about a quarter of the diseases spread in Gaza are caused by water pollution, and a great number of deaths of young children and infants are linked to intestinal diseases related to polluted water.  

The human rights groups also warned that the water crisis will lead to a catastrophe for the health system in the Gaza Strip, and called on the international community to pressurize Israel in order to guarantee Gazan's right to water security.

Israel has deprived Palestinians of benefiting from their natural resources of water, which has led to a serious water security crisis in the Gaza Strip. The water shortage is threatening the lives of two million Palestinians and has doubled the burden on the health system in the impoverished enclave.


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