“On the second day of Israel's latest bombing campaign against Gaza, it cut off water access for 2.4 million people. Six days of bombing followed before Israel announced it would “resume” water access to just the southern strip of Gaza. The northern strip—where over a million people are trapped—has been given an evacuation order as Israel bombs hospitals, homes, warehouses, and key infrastructure, and so will not have its access “resumed.” Nonetheless, the damage has already been done.
For starters, it's unlikely the water supply can actually be “resumed” if the numerous campaigns launched against Gaza since 2008 are any indicator. In May 2021, an 11-day Israeli bombing campaign on Gaza Strip destroyed water pipes and power lines, leaving water pumps, desalination plants, and waste facilities in desperate need of repairs and unable to operate as sewage and waste spilled into the streets and the water supply.
Palestinians are digging wells near the sea in the wake of Israel's bombardment of Gaza, drinking from the territory’s only aquifer which is not only increasingly depleted, but contaminated by seawater and sewage, and in some cases drinking from IV bags. The bombing has shut down Gaza’s only power plant, cut power lines, ruptured water pipes, and left waste facilities inoperable. Again. On top of all this, Gaza’s water has already been undrinkable for decades thanks to the Israeli bombing campaigns that have effectively sabotaged the supply, constant power shortages, perpetual displacement and encroachment, outright destruction of water processing and distribution infrastructure, over-extraction of water resources, water pollution, and an ongoing blockade that prevents humanitarian aid from bringing in more supplies.”
Read the article here.
Palestine Water Company, 1940, by Zoltan Kluger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.