More than 75 per cent of the population in Gaza is struggling with severe water scarcity, particularly in overcrowded displacement camps, as the summer heat intensifies, the humanitarian group Mercy Corps has warned.
"As hot summer conditions intensify, water scarcity has become an urgent and life threatening dimension of the crisis in Gaza," the group said in a report on Monday.
It added that families were surviving on less than six litres a person each day – less than half of the minimum 15 litres needed for survival. About 85 litres a person were available before the war.
"Overcrowded displacement sites and limited sanitation services are leading to rising levels of preventable disease, placing additional pressure on a shattered and overwhelmed health system," it said.
Israel's war on Gaza, which broke out after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, has largely destroyed civilian infrastructure. "After more than two and a half years of war, families in Gaza have exhausted every possible means of coping and are now surviving day to day with no margin left for further shocks," the report said.
More than six months after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire that ended two years of war in the Palestinian enclave, access to what should be a basic right has remained a daily struggle for its residents.
Israel also controls all of the enclave's border crossings and imposes restrictions on what and who goes in and out of Gaza. Water continues to be a scarce resource.
“People are not coping – they are surviving day to day with nothing left to fall back on," said Rachel Norris, Mercy Corps' response director in Gaza. "We are witnessing the steady erosion of their ability to endure. Without immediate and sustained access to safe shelter, sufficient, nutritious food and safe water, more families will face worsening malnutrition and health risks.
"The combination of water scarcity, fuel shortages and the collapse of essential services is pushing Gaza’s population into increasingly untenable conditions."
Since October 2023, Israel has destroyed 725 wells and 1,400km of water and sewerage pipelines, according to data from the Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, a non-profit that works for greater Palestinian control over natural resources.
The ceasefire left the Israeli military in control of about 50 per cent of Gaza, on its northern, eastern and southern borders, with Hamas controlling the rest. But Israel's military has gradually encroached into the group's territory and is now believed to occupy 60 per cent of the enclave.
Many still live in overcrowded displacement camps and tents, which overheat as temperatures rise.
