GAZA, (PIC)
In the alleys of the Deir Al-Balah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, the child Abdel Razzaq Labad searches for a place to buy a few liters of safe drinking water to quench his thirst in the scorching summer heat.
Under the scorching sun, the 10-year-old child walks, searching for his goal, amid dire conditions, as the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza approaches its tenth month.
Labad tells the correspondent of the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that he has been searching for drinking water since the morning hours, but has not found it yet in the extreme heat.
Last Tuesday morning, the Israeli occupation forces bombed a group of citizens while they were filling water in the Zeitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City, killing 10 of them and injuring 17 others, their only fault being that they went out to search for a sip of water.
Water wells are targets for the occupation
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, water wells and desalination plants have been targets for strikes by the Israeli occupation army, with most of them taken out of service, while many people, according to UN reports, are forced to drink unfit water.
The PIC correspondent visited the only desalination plant in the central Gaza Strip, and witnessed the harsh conditions, with hundreds of cars and animal-drawn carts waiting their turn to fill water.
Workers at the plant confirm that the plant is not operating at full capacity due to the lack of fuel, and its complete reliance on other energy sources.
They explained that the total work of the station and what it produces does not meet a third of the needs of the residents and the displaced people in the center of the enclave, amid the continued tragedy of displacement while the occupation army continues the war of genocide.
Since the start of the war on Gaza, the Israeli leaders have announced the cutting of water and food supplies as part of a starvation war, in an attempt to subdue the Palestinians and commit genocide against them.
Rise in prices
What adds to the suffering of the citizen amidst the war is the horrific rise in water prices, where the price of a gallon (16 liters) has reached 7 shekels, equivalent to $2.
Citizen Muhammad Qishta says that the rise in the price of drinking water has added burdens to daily expenses amid exorbitant inflation in the markets due to the Israeli genocide and the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Qishta told the PIC correspondent, “Clean drinking water has become a dream for many people amid abject poverty, tight blockade, and the deprivation of the most basic necessities of life.”
The residents wonder: Where is the world and the international community in the face of this Israeli criminality that does not hesitate to bombard water wells and those searching for them?
