Before the escalation, large water tankers distributed water to homes and other buildings, but bombing has made it too dangerous for some drivers to travel to even fill up their tankers, let alone service their normal routes. Even without the bombing, the lack of fuel would present a huge challenge for deliveries.
Many buildings in Gaza have wells, but without an electricity supply it is almost impossible to pump the water from these wells into the buildings’ storage tanks. While generators have long been used to cover patches in Gaza’s electricity supply, now people are struggling to find fuel to run the generators.
Even when people are able to draw water from a well, the water is usually not safe to drink.
The lack of water is not only about drinking water – without clean water hospitals cannot maintain hygiene and farmers cannot irrigate their crops or care for animals.
For Gaza’s Muslim-majority population, water also holds a spiritual significance and is needed to perform ritual cleaning before prayer.
7 water facilities across the Gaza Strip have sustained major damage, including 3 sewage pipelines and 2 reservoirs. Officials have warned of an imminent risk of sewage flooding in Gaza City.
Fuel
Without fuel, maintaining any semblance of functioning services within Gaza is impossible.
People have been forced to adapt to frequent electricity supply issues for many years, so generators have become a commonplace back up when mains electricity is down.
Right now, however, there is no fuel to power these generators and families are completely without electricity, unless they have access to solar panels – some of which have also been damaged in military bombardments.
Without electricity, people cannot charge their phones to contact loved ones, keep up with the news or call for help.