In the northern Gaza Strip, many people only have three liters of water available per day, far below the minimum requirement. This situation particularly threatens the well-being of children and older people.
According to the UN children’s fund Unicef, the water shortage in the Gaza Strip is reaching dramatic proportions. The risk of disease spreading is growing dramatically every day, said Unicef spokesman James Elder.
He spoke via video link from Cairo to reporters in Geneva. There are already thousands of cases of chickenpox, diarrhea, respiratory and skin diseases, reported the World Health Organization (WHO). There are no cases of cholera and the corresponding bacterium does not circulate in the Gaza Strip.
According to updated estimates from Unicef, around 700,000 people are still in the north of the Gaza Strip, which Israel has been trying to evacuate for weeks. Many only have three liters of water available per day; the minimum for drinking, washing and cooking is 15 liters.
Unicef and WHO are urgently calling for more fuel to run desalination plants and water pumps and for wastewater treatment. Whether water and wastewater treatment is restored will determine “whether thousands or tens of thousands of children survive or die,” Elder said. Unicef makes no distinction between children and young people. All minors are referred to as children. According to him, there are around 800,000 minors among the more than 1.7 million displaced people.
Elder recalled that the devastating conditions in the Gaza Strip are also home to more than 30 children and young people who were kidnapped by terrorists from Israel on October 7th.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
