More than 80% of Gazans lack safe, clean water: UN

By Merve Aydogan

TORONTO, Canada (AA) - The UN said Tuesday that "more than 80% of households in Gaza lack safe and clean water," emphasizing the dire situation in the coastal enclave.

Saying that the UN team working on water and sanitation hygiene in Gaza reported "extremely challenging conditions and high level of displacement" due to overcrowding in shelters, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at a news conference that "340 people are sharing a single toilet and there is one shower for roughly 1,300 people. That is on average."

"UNICEF has been providing fuel to operate public and private water wells and desalination plants," he said.

Noting that UNICEF has also delivered more than 50 emergency kits for more than a half million people and "enough newborn kits for 8,700 newborns," Dujarric reiterated his call for "reliable entry points that would allow us to bring aid" into Gaza.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 30,600 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.