GAZA: Israel's military blew up more than 30 water wells in Gaza this month, a municipal official and residents said, adding to the trauma of airstrikes that have devastated much of the Palestinian enclave with a humanitarian crisis.
Salama Shourab, head of the water network in Khan Younis Municipality, said that Israeli forces destroyed wells in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis from July 18 to 27.
The Israeli army did not respond to allegations that its soldiers destroyed the wells.
It is not only the ever-present threat from Israeli bombardment or ground fighting that makes life a trial for the Palestinian citizens of Gaza. It is also a daily slog to find bare necessities like water, to drink or to cook or wash.
People have dug wells in bleak areas near the sea where bombing has driven them, or rely on salty tap water from Gaza's only aquifer, now contaminated with seawater and sewage.
Children walk long distances to line up at temporary water collection points. Often not strong enough to carry the full containers, they drag them on wooden boards.
Gaza City has lost almost all its water production capacity, with 88 percent of its water wells and 100 percent of its desalination plants damaged or destroyed, Oxfam said in a recent report.
Palestinians were facing a severe water crisis as well as shortages of food, fuel and medicine before wells were destroyed, deepening the suffering brought by the Gaza war, now in its 10th month.
Israel says it is working on repairs
COGAT, the Israeli army's arm that manages humanitarian operations, told Reuters it had coordinated with international organizations to repair water lines and that “dozens” had been carried out, including one in the northern Gaza Strip last month.
Other work was going on at the desalination plant including electrical maintenance and construction of additional lines.
Hamas and other fighters “are known to attack civilian infrastructure and humanitarian aid routes, adding to the complexity and danger of delivering much-needed humanitarian aid to the region,” COGAT said.
All Gazans can wait in long lines to collect water as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators fail to broker a ceasefire with Israel and its arch-enemy Hamas. Not only is water scarce, most of it is also contaminated.
“We stand in the sun, my eyes hurt because of the sun, because we stand for long (hours) for (safe) water,” said Youssef El-Shenawi, a resident of Gaza.
“It's our struggle for drinking water, and then our struggle for drinking water, for which we stand next in line, if it's available.”
The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza, killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli tallies, and held another 250 hostages in Gaza, one of the most crowded places on earth.
Israel's retaliatory strikes have killed more than 39,000 people and bombarded much of Gaza, where functioning hospitals are rare, Gaza health officials said.
Fayez Abu Toh saw friends from Gaza standing in line in the heat, eager to get their hands on the water. Like many Palestinians, he wonders why Israel attacks targets that pose no threat to its forces.
“Anyone who has any sense of humanity should look at these people, take care of them and try to call a ceasefire (laad) and end this war. We are tired; we are all dead and tired. The people have nothing left,” he said.
“Does this affect the strength of the (Israeli) Defense Forces for good? It is the destruction of the infrastructure of the Palestinian people to make the situation worse and to put pressure on these people who have no one but God.”
