UN agencies estimate that 1.8 million people – over half of them children – urgently need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance.
Severe water shortages in the Gaza Strip have reached critical levels, with only one in ten Palestinians currently able to access safe drinking water, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Monday.
UNICEF has warned that 90 percent of Palestinians in Gaza do not have access to safe drinking water. According to Rosalia Bollen, a UNICEF official in Gaza, 600,000 people who had regained access since November 2024 have once again been cut off.
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“It’s really vital for thousands of families and children to restore this connection,” Bollen said.
UN agencies estimate that 1.8 million people – over half of them children – urgently need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance, according to a UN News report.
Humanitarian Aid ‘Critical’
UNRWA has also warned that the situation was “similar to the one which prevailed in October 2023.”
Israel’s decision to ban the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies into Gaza almost ten days ago “threatens the lives and survival of civilians in Gaza, who have had only a brief respite from 16 months of brutal war,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, at a press briefing on Monday.
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Lazzarini noted that the ceasefire agreement “has shown that whenever there is a political will, humanitarian assistance can be unhindered and uninterrupted.”
“It is critical that humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza again, to maintain the progress made during the first phase of the ceasefire and meet people’s basic needs,” he stated.
Blockade on Aid
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which took effect on January 19, ended on Saturday, after which Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu announced that “the entry of all goods and supplies to the Gaza Strip will be halted.”
Lazzarini said he echoed the call of the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, for “the immediate, unconditional, and dignified release of all hostages, the dignified release of Palestinian detainees as previously agreed, and for the ceasefire to hold.”
West Bank Situation
He also highlighted the situation in the West Bank which he said was “severely impacting Palestinians, especially in the north.”
Several refugee camps have been “nearly emptied, displacing around 40,000 Palestine Refugees,” he noted.
“This is the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967,” Lazzarini said.
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He emphasized that the large-scale demolition of buildings, including residential areas, was “alarming,” adding that “People have nowhere to return to.”
The Israeli army has been conducting an intensive military raid in the northern West Bank since January 21, killing at least 65 Palestinians.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
