Palestinians buy ‘salty, polluted’ water after Israel destroys infrastructure
Palestinians have been lining up to buy dirty water after Israel destroyed all five of Gaza’s wastewater treatment facilities, as well as water desalination plants, sewage pumping stations, wells and reservoirs, the AP reports.
Adel Dalloul, a 21-year-old living in a tent near the Nuseirat refugee camp, says he found out the water he’d brought from a vendor was contaminated, after drinking it.
“We found worms in the water. I had been drinking from it,” Dalloul told AP. “It was salty, polluted, and full of germs.” “I had gastrointestinal problems and diarrhoea, and my stomach hurts until this moment,” he said.
Israel has not only destroyed Gaza’s water and sanitation facilities, but it has also killed workers who tried to fix them. This month, an Israeli attack in Gaza City killed five government employees repairing water wells, city officials said.
‘Preconditions of cholera’: Gaza’s decimated sanitation systems causing illnesses
We’ve been sharing updates from a new AP report detailing how Israel’s destruction of water and sewage infrastructure has affected people in Gaza.
Joanne Perry, a doctor working in southern Gaza with Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, told AP that most patients she sees already have illnesses or infections caused by poor sanitation. Scabies, gastrointestinal illnesses and rashes are common, and Perry fears cholera could be on the horizon.
“The crowded conditions, the lack of water, the heat, the poor sanitation — these are the preconditions of cholera,” Perry told AP.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says 485,000 cases of diarrhoea have been reported since October.
WHO figures also showed an outbreak of Hepatitis A, which is spread through consuming water or food contaminated with faecal matter, had led to 81,700 reported cases of jaundice, as of early June.
Palestinians in Gaza surrounded by sewage and rubbish
Palestinians gather to fill water jugs near one of the Strip’s few functioning desalination plants in Deir el-Balah
Palestinian kids sort through rubbish at a landfill in the Nuseirat refugee camp
