The Independent British newspaper said that “An incredible 96 per cent of Gaza’s water supply is unsafe to drink as its only aquifer is contaminated by sewage and the coastal enclave’s three desalination plants are in effect offline”.
In a report on Saturday the newspaper said “The Strip’s burgeoning water and electricity crises have taken their toll and three years on since Israel’s war on Gaza it’s clear things in the Strip are getting worse rather than better”.
“July report from the UN found that 10 years into the siege the Gaza Strip is now “unlivable” and de-developing quicker than expected” the report stated.
It added that when the Israeli aggression on Gaza ended on 26 August 2014 – after the deaths of 2200 Palestinians Israel vowed to change course on Gaza.
“Yet nothing has come of the promises to increase travel permits to let Palestinians out of the “open-air prison”; fewer people are granted permission to leave the Strip than in 2014 even for medical reasons. The crossing into Egypt also remains closed” the report highlighted.
Only a third of the some 11000 homes destroyed in the 2014 war have been rebuilt the Norwegian Refugee Council estimated recently. The economic knock-on effects of two wars and ten years of Israeli sea and land blockades have led the Gazan economy to effectively collapse unemployment is sky-high at 41 per cent rising to 60 per cent for the young and the threat of Israeli force’s air strikes is constant.
The power is often only on for three hours a day. Hospitals have warned the blackouts endanger patients’ lives and since many households rely on electric pumps for their water millions have difficulty washing cooking and doing laundry the report concluded.
