Fedaa al-Qedra
The Electronic Intifada / July 13, 2024
Rahaf is constantly waiting for water.
Early each morning, she goes to a desalination plant in Khan Younis, a southern Gaza city on which Israel has inflicted massive destruction.
You can see the long line from afar.
There are hundreds of people of all ages. Most of them carry yellow or blue 40-liter jerrycans.
Many have come from shelters several kilometers away. They use shopping carts, wheelchairs and even baby strollers to transport their containers.
Rahaf, 20, fled her home in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, during the early stages of the current genocidal war. She is now taking shelter at a school in Khan Younis.
Her two brothers were injured in an Israeli attack and had to undergo amputations. Following the attack, Rahaf assumed responsibility for fetching water.
“It is a difficult and frustrating task for a young woman,” she said.
Rahaf puts the water containers on her mother’s wheelchair and then pushes it through streets that are in deplorable conditions.
When her family runs out of safe drinking water, they have to consume polluted water. Rahaf’s nephew has contracted hepatitis A as a result.
Access to water in Gaza is decreasing.
Between 24 June and 7 July, about 78,500 cubic meters of water were produced daily for safe drinking and other domestic purposes. That was considerably lower than the 112,000 cubic meters daily average over the previous two weeks.
It is estimated that the amount of water available for drinking, washing and preparing food each day in Gaza ranges from two to nine liters per capita. The minimum daily requirement in an emergency is 15 liters per capita.
“A lack of clean water can lead to many water quality-related diseases, such as diarrhea and skin diseases,” said Ahmad al-Qudra, a pediatrician at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. “But simply not having enough water can also lead to dehydration.”
“The effects are worse for children, who have weaker immune systems than adults and are more susceptible to dehydration, diarrhea, malnutrition and various diseases, all of which can worsen and pose a threat to their survival.”
Fedaa al-Qedra is a journalist in Gaza
