KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - Officials in Gaza Strip’s Khan Younis warned on Saturday that an estimated 1.2 million people in the enclave are on the brink of severe water shortage amid an ongoing fuel crisis that has disrupted essential services, including the operation of water wells and desalination plants.
The city officials also raised the alarm about the halt of operations in the sewage treatment facilities in Khan Younis, calling for an immediate international intervention to end the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza which has destroyed many parts of the enclave.
People in Khan Younis, stand in queue for hours to fill plastic containers with drinking water.
"I'm walking a long road to obtain two gallons of drinking water," Rafeeq Sheikh, a 67-year-old displaced Palestinian told Rudaw.
Authorities have previously stated that 80 percent of water pipelines have been destroyed as a result of Israeli bulldozing and bombardment operations.
"We want the situation to be like before, for the water pipelines to be fixed and get drinking water to all homes," Sheikh added.
The emergency committee in Khan Younis warned that the halt of supplies would result in significant environmental and health crises, including the potential failure of sewage treatment facilities.
This could lead to sewage overflow onto public streets and trigger outbreaks of diseases and epidemics among the Palestinian population.
"We are using sewage water for everything on daily basis," said Ibrahim Alwan, another displaced Palestinian from Khan Younis. "We are forced to wait in the line for several hours to obtain water to use it for all purposes," he added.
In late July, the Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry announced the detection of the first polio case in the enclave, stating that it was due to “the challenging health conditions in the Gaza Strip, including the spread of infectious diseases
More than 13 months into the war, the people in Gaza have been experiencing a severe water crisis. Israel’s relentless bombardments, destroying around 700 water wells that 90 percent of the population depended on, according to Palestinian officials.
"Every day, everyone waits three, four to five hours before obtaining some water." said Nabil Abd al Rabbou.
The United Nations estimates that the average Gazan is living on only 3 liters of water per day - well below the UN emergency standard of 15 liters.
“Why do these people have to suffer from this? These people are deprived from everything. 13 months (into war) and people are still suffering." Abd al Rabbou lamented.
Rekar Aziz contributed to this article.