GAZA, (PIC)
Doctors Without Borders warned that the depletion of fuel in the Gaza Strip could lead to the “complete collapse of the remaining water system, which will cut off people’s access to water.”
The organization said on Wednesday that Israel is effectively prohibiting access to water in the Gaza Strip by cutting off electricity and fuel, calling for the passage of humanitarian aid to Palestinians to avoid further loss of life.
The statement quoted the organization’s water and sanitation coordinator in Gaza Strip, Paula Navarro, as saying, “With the new attacks that have resulted in hundreds of deaths in a few days, Israeli forces continue to deprive the people of Gaza of water by cutting electricity and preventing fuel from entering.”
She added that the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza Strip is exacerbated by the “water crisis,” as many are forced to drink unsafe water, while others completely lack access to it.
For her part, the medical team coordinator at the organization in Gaza Strip, Chiara Lodi, pointed out that the skin diseases suffered by children are a direct result of the destruction of Gaza and the Israeli blockade imposed on it.
She said, “Our staff is treating an increasing number of children suffering from skin diseases like scabies, which causes significant suffering, and in severe cases leads to scratching the skin until it bleeds.”
Lodi attributed the children’s scabies in Gaza Strip to their inability to bathe.
Doctors Without Borders noted that “jaundice, diarrhea, and scabies” are among the most common cases treated by its teams in Khan Yunis (south), resulting from the lack of safe water supplies.
Israel continues to prevent fuel from entering amid a tightened blockade and closure of crossings to humanitarian, relief, medical aid, and goods since March 2.
The organization renewed its call for the Israeli occupying authorities to lift their inhumane blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and to comply with international humanitarian law and their obligations as an occupying power.
It demanded an immediate restoration of the truce and the allowance of electricity and humanitarian aid into Gaza Strip, including fuel and water supplies, to avoid further loss of life.
On March 9, Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen decided to stop supplying electricity to Gaza Strip “immediately,” as Israel was providing the enclave with a limited capacity of electricity to operate the water station in central Gaza.
In a preliminary count, the number of martyrs and injured since the start of the genocide against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 has risen to 50,144 martyrs and 113,704 injured.
Since the resumption of the genocide on March 18, more than 750 citizens have been martyred, and about 1,400 others injured, most of them children and women, amid Israeli bombardment targeting homes, facilities, hospitals, displacement camps, vehicles, and citizen gatherings.
