It’s Getting Grimmer in Gaza: How many days of water, food, power left?

In the world’s largest open-air prison, there seems to be no escaping death. For more than 10 days, Gazans have been battling relentless airstrikes from Israel. After the 7 October Hamas attack, Jerusalem has blocked essential supplies to the enclave, which is home to more than two million Palestinians. The total siege means they are running out of water, food, power and medicines.

The death in the Hamas-controlled enclave has been mounting with each passing day. The Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,000 people. This does not include the 500 killed in an explosion at Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday. While Hamas claims that an Israeli airstrike hit the hospital, the Israeli military alleges that a rocket was misfired by other Palestinian militants.

Both Hamas and Israel continue to trade barbs and caught in the crossfire are the ordinary Gazans. A humanitarian crisis is looming large, as there is no power, water and medicines are scarce, and aid is out of reach. How much supply of essentials is left in the strip? We bring you the real picture.

Water

For Gazans, water is a luxury even in times of peace. Even before the latest flare-up, water supply to the enclave did not meet the World Health Organization’s minimum requirement for daily per capita water consumption, according to a report in Reuters.

The Coastal Aquifer Basin, running along the eastern Mediterranean coast from the northern Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, through Gaza and into Israel, is the enclave’s only natural source of water. The quality of the groundwater in the aquifer has “deteriorated rapidly” because it had been pumped out to meet the demands of Gaza’s large population quicker than it could be replaced by rainwater, the report says quoting a 2020 study in the journal “Water”.

Even before the conflict erupted, 90 per cent of the water was undrinkable, according to the Palestinian water authority. A majority of the population – 97 per cent – relies on unregulated private tankers and small-scale desalination plants for drinking water.

After Hamas’s deadly attack, Israel cut off fresh water supplies to the Gaza Strip. According to the United Nations, severe water shortages have “become a matter of life and death”.

In such a situation, the contaminated water from the aquifer is the only source for Gazans. Three desalination facilities that the enclave relies on have stopped operations because of power restrictions imposed by the blockade.

Reuters reported that desperate families have started drilling private wells. A handful can afford mineral water but several have resorted to buying cheaper treated water from trucks, reports The Guardian.

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Tuesday that Gaza’s last seawater desalination plant had shut down. “Concerns over dehydration and waterborne diseases are high given the collapse of water and sanitation services, including today’s shutdown of Gaza’s last functioning seawater desalination plant,” the UNRWA said in a statement on Tuesday.

Six water wells, three water pumping stations and one water reservoir – which collectively served more than 1.1million people – are also out of action, it said.

“We really fear we’re going to be running out of water; people are dehydrated – especially babies”

No humanitarian supplies have been allowed into