<\/p>\n
20 June 2025<\/p>\n
This is a summary of what was said by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF Spokesperson, James Elder, to whom quoted text may be attributed \u2013 at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIn a war already defined by its brutality, Gaza now teeters at its deadliest edge. Currently just 40 per cent of drinking water production facilities remain functional in Gaza (87 out of 217). Without fuel, every one of these will stop operating within weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cSince all the electricity to Gaza was cut after the horrific attacks of 7 Oct 2023, fuel became essential to produce, treat and distribute water to more than two million Palestinians.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the current more than 100-day blockade on fuel coming into Gaza does not end, children will begin to die of thirst. Diseases are already advancing, and chaos is tightening its grip.<\/p>\n \u201cWhilst alarm bells rightly ring on the nutrition situation in Gaza \u2013 just yesterday Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF reported a 50 per cent increase in children (6months to 5yrs) admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition from April to May \u2013 water cannot be sidelined.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so in the most relatable terms: Gaza is facing what would amount to a man-made drought. Water systems are collapsing.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, because this is man-made, it can be stopped. None of these problems are logistical or technical. They are political. Denial has become policy. If there is political will, the water crisis will be eased overnight \u2013 fuel would mean that water flows from hundreds of groundwater wells and restores supply within a day. But time is running out.<\/p>\n \u201cTo help paint the picture: without fuel, desalination plants that already operate on reduced capacity will cease completely, and critical membranes in the machinery will close, doing immense damage. Without fuel, trucking the millions of litres of water to people will stop. At major production points, large numbers of donkeys are starting to replace trucks. This is the last gasp of a collapsing system. A donkey cart can barely carry 500 litres. A truck, 15,000. And even the donkeys are slowing \u2013 there\u2019s barely enough food to keep them moving.<\/p>\n \u201cFuel is also the thread holding Gaza\u2019s devastated healthcare system together. Without it, hospital generators stop, oxygen production stops, and life-support machines fail. Ambulances can\u2019t move. Incubators go dark. Denying fuel doesn\u2019t just cut off supply \u2013 it cuts off survival.<\/p>\n \u201cOr sanitation: The sewerage systems are broken. Sewage now flows into makeshift shelters and tents. There are already suspected cases of HepA and HepE, which are highly infectious.<\/p>\n \u201cOr nutrition: Just as the water crisis is manmade, so too is the malnutrition it drives. In Gaza, these two crises feed off each other, creating a deadly cycle. On average, more than 110 children (6months to 5yrs) have been admitted for treatment for malnutrition every day since the beginning of 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the start of this month a friend in Gaza said to me: \u2018we have learnt to live without so much. Without our homes; without safety; without loved ones\u2026but we cannot live without food\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThis week he clarified that: \u2018we have learnt to live without so much. Without our homes; without safety; without loved ones\u2026we have even learnt we can live without food for a week, or more\u2026but we\u00a0cannot<\/em>\u00a0survive days without water\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF is very clear. This is Gaza\u2019s most critical moment since this war on children began \u2013 a woeful bar to sink below. A virtual blockade is in place; humanitarian aid is being sidelined; the daily killing of girls and boys in Gaza does not register; and now a deliberate fuel crisis is severing Palestinians most essential element for survival: water.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 20 June 2025 This is a summary of what was said by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF Spokesperson, James Elder, to whom quoted text may be attributed \u2013 at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva \u201cIn a war already defined by its brutality, Gaza now teeters at its deadliest edge. Currently just 40 per […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2565],"document-source":[2105],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,1945,2033,2057,2005,5200,6870],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-308361","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-briefing","document-source-united-nations-childrens-fund-unicef","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-children","document-subject-food","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","document-subject-hunger","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/308361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/308361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308363,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/308361\/revisions\/308363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=308361"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=308361"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=308361"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=308361"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=308361"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=308361"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=308361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}