UN says waterborne illnesses spread in Gaza due to heat, unsafe water
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[April 13, 2024]
GENEVA (Reuters) - Waterborne diseases are spreading in Gaza due
to a lack of clean water and rising temperatures, the United Nations
humanitarian coordinator in Gaza said on Friday.
"It is becoming very hot there," Jamie McGoldrick told reporters via
video link from Jerusalem. "People are getting much less water than they
need, and as a result, there have been waterborne diseases due to lack
of safe and clean water and the disruption of the sanitation systems."
"We have to find a way in the months ahead of how we can have a better
supply of water into the areas where people are currently crowded at the
moment," he said, after making his final visit to Gaza at the end of his
three-month assignment.
Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to diseases such as
cholera, diarrhea, dysentery and hepatitis A, according to the World
Health Organization.
Since mid-October, following the assault on Gaza in response to deadly
attacks in southern Israel by Hamas, WHO has recorded more than 345,000
cases of diarrhea, including more than 105,000 in children under 5.
Israel has committed to facilitate the ability of humanitarian
organizations to scale up aid in Gaza, and has approved the resumption
of the operation of the water pipeline in northern Gaza.
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![](../images/041324PIX/health75.jpg)
Palestinians gather to collect water from a house destroyed by an
Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Jabalia refugee camp in the
northern Gaza Strip February 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Essa/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
The Gaza Strip's only natural source
of water is the Coastal Aquifer Basin, which runs along the eastern
Mediterranean coast from the northern Sinai Peninsula in Egypt,
through Gaza and into Israel.
Its quality over the years has deteriorated rapidly, largely because
it had been pumped out to meet the demands of Gaza's population more
rapidly than it could be replaced by rainwater.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Ros Russell)
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