‘If we bathe, we won’t drink’: How Gazans are deprived of water amid war

“No electricity, no water, no internet. I feel like I’m losing my humanity,” said Mona Abdel Hamid, a 55-year-old resident of Gaza, as she made her way to her relatives’ house in Rafah.

This is a feeling most people who reside in the Gaza Strip have as Israel continues its fierce airstrikes and a possible ground invasion looms. Even though Israel resumed water supply to the densely-populated region on Sunday, it’s not enough, causing thousands to suffer.

Ahmed Hamid, 43, who fled Gaza City with his wife and seven children, heading to Rafah, told AFP: “We haven’t showered in days. Even going to the toilet requires us to wait in line. There is no food. All goods are not available and the costs of what is available have surged. The only foods we find are tuna cans and cheese.

“I feel like a burden, unable to do anything.”

The United Nations estimate that about one million people have been displaced since Israel began its relentless aerial bombardment of Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ deadly assault on 7 October. The Hamas attack left more than 1,400 people dead on the Israeli side, most of them civilians. On the Gazan side, at least 2,670 have died in the relentless bombing, the majority of them ordinary Palestinians.

In addition to water, even electricity and food supplies to the enclave have been cut off, making life almost unbearable for the residents.

Living in displacement

Since Friday, Sabah Masbah, 50, has lived with her husband, daughter and 21 other relatives at a friend’s home in Rafah.

“The worst and most dangerous thing is that we can’t find water. None of us bathe now because the water is so scarce,” she told AFP.

At his home in Khan Yunis, near a school run by the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, Esam said: “We received guests who were displaced from the Gaza City area, the Al-Rimal neighbourhood and Tal al-Hawa.”

But “water is a problem”, said the 23-year-old who did not wish to give his full name.

“Every day we think of how to get water… If we bathe, we won’t drink.”

Those who have sought refuge at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools also desperately seek food and water. The UN agency’s director of communications, Juliette Touma, told AFP more people are likely to become displaced “as people continue to leave their homes”.

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Israel is massing forces and weapons at the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive.

Despite the Israeli evacuation order, there were air strikes in the south, including in Rafah, where one resident said a doctor’s house was targeted.

“All the family was wiped out,” said Khamis Abu Hilal.

Alaa al-Hams pointed to the fresh signs of shelling on a neighbourhood in Rafah.

“I look at the massive destruction. They say there is terrorism here. Where is the humanity they speak of?” he said.

“All are civilians here, with nothing to do with any organisations, but they died… no one is left alive.”

Samira Kassab stands on the remains of what was once her home in Rafah, asking: “Where will we go? Where are the Arab countries?

“We have spent our whole lives in displacement. Our home, which housed all my children, was struck… We slept in the street and there is nothing left,” she said.

“We are isolated. My daughter has cancer and I can’t take her to the hospital. I myself suffer from hypertension and diabetes.”

But she defiantly raised the victory sign with her hand.

Surrounded by her grandchildren she said: “I won’t leave no matter what, even if I die. We beg for bread from our neighbours, but we will not part with a grain of sand.”

With inputs from AFP