Before the sun rises and temperatures climb toward a sweltering 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit), Ibtisam Al-Helou steps out of her tent on Gaza’s seafront and begins a daily journey in search of something most people take for granted: clean water.
The Mediterranean Sea sits just steps from where she lives, but that water is useless for drinking, cooking, or washing. Instead, the 40-year-old mother of three must walk through the ruins of Gaza City, following word-of-mouth reports about where water might be available that day.
“I live by the sea, and water is very scarce. I suffer from it every day,” she said, scrubbing kitchen items outside the tent her family now calls home.
“I reach Al-Mina, I reach Al-Amadi, we reach Abu Mazen — areas in Gaza City — where there is water, because water does not reach here at all. We only get water once every three days,” she added.
Her daily ordeal is far from unique. Aid organizations, United Nations officials, and Palestinian health authorities say Gaza is experiencing a collapse of its water and sanitation infrastructure unlike anything seen before, leaving the majority of the population caught between immediate thirst and a long-term environmental disaster that could take decades to reverse.
Residents line up for hours beside battered water trucks just to receive a few liters, then return to crowded, disease-ridden tent camps with little else to show for their wait.
The shortage has reshaped even the simplest childhood routines. Before the conflict began, Al-Helou’s children — she cares for nine children in total in her household — bathed in fresh water three times a day during Gaza’s hot summers. Now, bathing once a week is considered fortunate.
Many children cool off by swimming in the sea, but Al-Helou says that comes at a cost. “When my children swim in the sea, I need 50 shekels (worth about $17 in treatment) for each one of them,” she said. “They get itching, scabies and allergies.”
Health officials are sounding alarms about a growing environmental threat beneath the surface. Untreated sewage from hundreds of thousands of cesspits is seeping into Gaza’s coastal aquifer — the territory’s only natural source of fresh water. Children treated for diarrhea and skin infections return from clinics to tents where clean water, soap, and basic sanitation remain out of reach. More and more residents are relying on trucked-in water, damaged wells, and untreated groundwater.
According to United Nations assessments, more than half of Gaza’s population — roughly 1.3 million people — has access to fewer than six liters of drinking water per day. Many are forced to use salty, unhealthy water for bathing and washing clothes.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières says its own data suggest the situation may be even more dire. The organization reports that most residents are receiving an average of just 4.3 liters per person per day. Before the war, the average daily water use was approximately 85 liters per person.
“People are still queuing and waiting for water trucks to arrive and distribute water,” said Alessandro Mrakic, the head of the U.N. Development Programme in Gaza. “It is a very difficult, complex operation because you need to go through rubble. You need to reach the population where it is,” he told Reuters.
As temperatures rise, so do health concerns. “The lack of sufficient water is directly affecting people’s health and ability to maintain basic hygiene,” said Ozan Agbas, Emergency Operations Manager with MSF Netherlands.
MSF’s surveillance data shows that acute respiratory infections make up 46% of reported illnesses, while skin diseases account for 31% and acute watery diarrhea for 21%.
Palestinian officials warn that the crisis goes far beyond a shortage of drinking water. Said El-Aklouk, a sanitation and wastewater monitoring official at Gaza’s Health Ministry, said that before the war, Gaza had around 320 water wells — now fewer than 100 remain in operation. He said approximately 80% of the water distribution network and most of the territory’s desalination capacity have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks.
The Israeli military has stated that it does not deliberately target essential civilian infrastructure. COGAT, the military body overseeing humanitarian affairs, said on July 9 that it was working alongside international agencies to address sanitation, hygiene, and water supply challenges in the territory.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached in October halted the heaviest fighting, but attacks have continued. Israel has said it targeted Hamas and other militants who posed an immediate threat.
Months after the ceasefire took hold, water trucks remain a critical lifeline for much of the population. But aid agencies emphasize that trucks cannot substitute for a functioning public water system. Residents fill plastic jerrycans, hauling them on their backs or shoulders, or transporting them on small homemade carts.
For those who fall ill, treatment alone is not enough. Agbas noted that patients leave clinics only to return to overcrowded shelters with minimal access to clean water, soap, or sanitation — conditions that set the stage for repeated illness and reinfection. Health officials report that at least 5,000 cases of chickenpox have been detected per week over the past month.
Aklouk said more than 300,000 cesspits and soak pits are currently discharging untreated wastewater directly into Gaza’s coastal aquifer, the only natural freshwater source the territory has.
“Today, for the first time, we have effectively lost control of our water sources,” Aklouk said. “This is the worst situation Gaza has ever experienced.”
