The statement urged the international community and human rights organizations to respond promptly to this crisis.
The city of Khan Yunis, located in southern Gaza, announced on Saturday that a week-long fuel shortage has left over 1.2 million Palestinian residents and displaced individuals in the area without access to clean water, according to Anadolu news agency.
“This persistent fuel stoppage has disrupted essential services, including the operation of water wells and desalination plants, leaving over 1.2 million citizens and displaced individuals in Khan Yunis without potable and usable water,” the city government stated.
In addition to water shortages, the city government warned of the potential suspension of sewage treatment services. It emphasized that untreated wastewater could lead to dire consequences, such as flooding streets, which would heighten the risk of environmental and health disasters, including the spread of diseases and epidemics, Anadolu reported.
The Khan Yunis municipality in southern Gaza has announced it ran out of fuel to keep water and sewage facilities working.
Basic services such as sanitation, waste collection, and transport are no longer in service, which will result in the spread of health hazards and disease. pic.twitter.com/fx5zfdNsgc
— Days of Palestine (@DaysOf_Pal) November 16, 2024
The statement urged the international community and human rights organizations to respond promptly to this crisis. It also called on these organizations to “urgently intervene to end the Israeli war on Gaza, which has destroyed all aspects of life.”
Furthermore, it appealed to United Nations agencies to “pressure Israel to resume fuel supplies and allow the entry of essential equipment and spare parts to prevent the complete collapse of public services.”
Earlier Warnings
Numerous international organizations, UN agencies, and Gaza’s Ministry of Health have previously sounded alarms about the devastating impact of basic commodity shortages on the Palestinian population due to the ongoing Israeli conflict.
In late July, the detection of the first polio case in the besieged Gaza Strip was linked by the Health Ministry to “the challenging health conditions in the Gaza Strip, including the spread of infectious diseases, the overflow of sewage into streets and among displaced persons’ tents, and the lack of personal hygienic supplies and clean drinking water.”
As early as June, the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported that infectious diseases were spreading across Gaza. It revealed that 67 percent of the area’s water and sanitation facilities had been destroyed or damaged during Israel’s war on the enclave.
“Over the past 8 months in the Gaza Strip approximately 67% of water, sanitation facilities & infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged,” UNRWA stated on X (formerly Twitter) on June 20. It warned that “as infectious diseases continue to spread and temperature rises, lack of hygiene & dehydration threaten the health of people across Gaza.”
A week prior, UNRWA had already highlighted “catastrophic” environmental and health risks stemming from the accumulation of waste in densely populated areas within the enclave.
“As of 9 June, over 330,000 tons of waste have accumulated in or near populated areas across Gaza, posing catastrophic environmental & health risks,” UNRWA stated. It added: “Children rummage through trash daily.”
UNRWA reiterated its plea for an immediate ceasefire, stating, “Unimpeded humanitarian access and ceasefire now are crucial to restore humane living conditions.”
Staggering Death Toll
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,799 Palestinians have been killed, and 103,601 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
