Why Gaza’s Dire Water Crisis Has Been Decades in the Making

Feb 8, 2024 | Yasmine Hafez and Marianne Dhenin
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As early as 2017, Unicef estimated that 96 per cent of the water from Gaza’s sole aquifer was unfit for human consumption. Before Israel launched its Gaza offensive last October, that underground water source provided 81 per cent of the enclave’s supply. Three desalination plants and three pipes from Israeli water company Merkorot provided the remaining five per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.

A century ago, the Coastal Aquifer Basin, which stretches along Gaza’s western coastline and into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, remained relatively untapped, with rainfall and natural springs providing ample water even for agricultural production. 

The statistics speak for themselves: since the beginning of the war, there has been a 2,000 per cent increase in cases of chronic diarrhoea in children younger than five, affecting tens of thousands of kids, while cases of upper respiratory infections, scabies, lice, rashes, and chicken pox among displaced persons in Gaza have rocketed.