Will Serious Drinking Water Shortages Usher Gaza’s Surrender?

Photo Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90

Gaza Arabs waiting to collect drinking water in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, October 19, 2024.

On October 9, 2023, following the October 7 attack by Hamas, Israel’s defense minister announced a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity, food, water, and fuel supplies from Israel to Gaza. Since then, the same minister reneged on all of the above threats, but still, access to fresh drinking water is a lingering problem in the Strip which could bring the collapse of Hamas’s rule.

Haaretz reported on Thursday that residents and displaced people say they have to wait hours to fill a bucket of water. Khalil al-Balawi, 18, told Haaretz he obtained two liters of drinking water after waiting in a long line at a water filling point in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City. Al-Balawi waits in this line for two to three hours a day to fill up his water containers. He then empties the water into a small container for his mother to boil and sterilize. The sterilization work, which is carried out by the mother and her adult children, is especially important given the collapse of the health system in the Gaza Strip and the shortage of medicines. Two of Al-Balawi’s siblings, ages 7 and 9, suffered intestinal infections from using contaminated water.

“أعطيني القوة يا الله”.. طفل يستغيث بالله وهو يحمل جالونات كبيرة من المياه، في ظل أزمة المياه والمعاناة جرّاء استمرار الحرب في قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/61LltD9TLb

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) November 13, 2024

The mother, whose husband was a Hamas terrorist killed by the Israelis, says that the water problem has created distress not because of lack of availability, but because of the inherent risks due to the destruction of water infrastructure and its contamination with sewage and waste. She says that the process of sterilizing water by boiling is not easy, as she has to keep the fire burning for hours. This requires collecting cuttings and materials that can be ignited since cooking gas is also considered a rare commodity in the Gaza Strip.

Even before the October 7 Hamas massacre of innocent Israelis, Gazans faced significant challenges in accessing safe water. Approximately 90 percent of Gaza’s water supply is drawn from the Coastal Aquifer Basin, which stretches along the eastern Mediterranean from Egypt, through Gaza, and into Israel. However, this water is often salty and contaminated due to seawater intrusion, over-extraction, and sewage and chemical infiltration. As a result, many Gazans depend on small-scale desalination units and unregulated private water tankers, which are costly and can pose health risks. The remaining 10% of Gaza’s water supply comes mainly from three pipelines from Israel and small-scale seawater desalination plants.

نعاني معناة كبيرة في غزة للحصول على المياه المحلاة.#غزة pic.twitter.com/QN74otQJfL

— Khalil Bassam (@khalil_bassam2) November 10, 2024

The worst water shortage is in northern Gaza, where the IDF is pushing the civilian population to central and south Gaza, in an effort to create a no-man’s zone where Hamas terrorists will be killed on sight. There are an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 Arab civilians entrenched in northern Gaza, not because they wish to stay, but because Hamas terrorists have been firing on anyone daring to leave.

Along the Netzarim Corridor, Israeli flags line a central road leading west to a large military outpost on the Mediterranean coast, just south of Gaza’s Sheikh Ijlin district. The IDF has converted this outpost into a fully operational base, equipped with temporary detention facilities, interrogation rooms, and permanent quarters for brigade command and combat units. Trenches are being dug around the site, and construction crews and engineering officers are working to reinforce the fortifications.

A critical element of this base lies between the facility and the coast: an advanced coastal checkpoint through which the military anticipates that a significant portion of the Arab population will move southward within Gaza, especially as pressure intensifies on the Jabaliya area.

Starvation and denial of drinking water will eventually push Gazan civilians to ignore the Hamas lethal threats and rush southward for relief. When this is achieved, the total defeat of Hamas will be completed.