Gaza runs out of water: fuel shortage threatens to paralyse supplies in the South

Gaza's unprecedented humanitarian crisis is worsening further. A severe fuel shortage across the Strip is about to paralyse the supply of drinking water in several southern areas, especially in Khan Younis, where 96% of the water distributed every day is at risk of disappearing.

According to our teams' reports, there has been a shortfall of more than 61% in the daily distribution of water by public providers, and close to 85% for private providers. This critical situation threatens to jeopardise access to drinking water for at least 78,000 people in the south in the coming days.

Since the start of the war, 89% of Gaza's water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, including 238 water wells and essential parts of the main water pipeline to Gaza, the Mekerot pipeline. Impacts on desalination plants, water wells and pumping wells have reduced water production to less than 58% of pre-crisis levels, leaving 90% of Gaza's population without access to safe drinking water. 

If fuel reserves cannot be accessed, an estimated 122 municipal facilities, including wells and sewage pumping stations, will run out of fuel by the end of June, impacting support for one million people across Gaza. 

Why is fuel so important?

Without fuel, all humanitarian infrastructure and service delivery cannot function, and thousands of people are left without access to clean water. For example:

• Water treatment plants need 10,000 litres of fuel per day to keep running.
• A humanitarian organisation distributing water needs 260 litres of fuel per day.
• A local company that distributes water in the central and southern area needs more than 440 litres per day to operate.

Only immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access - to all Gaza crossings, to movements within Gaza, as well as to families in need and to fuel stocks - will prevent a major catastrophe. 

Action Against Hunger's response

Action Against Hunger has more than 100 water trucking points in Gaza City, Deir el Balah and the south, while all points in northern Gaza are currently under movement orders and movement restrictions continue to affect operations.

We continue to support health centres and IDP camps with nutrition activities, hygiene promotion, cash assistance for households, as well as the provision of food in collaboration with community kitchens.

Although we continue to remove solid waste, our teams have observed a marked decrease in the amount of waste produced. This is partly due to people retaining waste to burn as fuel, an unsafe and toxic practice that testifies to the increasing inaccessibility and scarcity across the Strip.