Water and sanitation
The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster reported that, since 22 October, the volume of water supplied from Israel to the western Khan Younis area declined by some 20 per cent (from about 600 to 480 cubic metres per hour); the reasons are unclear. Meanwhile, water supply through two other pipelines from Israel is suspended since 8 October, including one line reaching Deir Al Balah town, located south of Wadi Gaza.
On 21 October, one of the three seawater desalination plants located in Khan Younis resumed operations at less than seven per cent of its capacity. This was made possible after UNRWA managed to coordinate the retrieval and distribution of fuel from one of its storage facilities in Gaza. The newly available water (some 450 cubic metres per day) is being trucked to UNRWA DES. The other two plants remain non-operational.
For more from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and Israel | Flash Update #17
Humanitarian supplies received in southern Gaza, 23 October 2023. Photo by the Palestine Red Crescent Society