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Each Tuesday, at exactly 8 a.m., Abo Watan Al-Shararha’s mornings are marked by the distant sirens of humanitarian water trucks. The 39-year-old, who struggles to provide for his family of five, must carry empty jerrycans and venture through the rubble of his neighborhood in al-Zawaida, hoping he will make it to the trucks before the drinking water runs out.

For Al-Shararha, whose name references the Arabic word for “homeland,” home is where he can live with dignity and safety, without battling for life’s most basic necessities. Displaced six times during the genocide, he has reached what he hopes will be his latest refuge.

“But getting water is a matter of luck,” he told Truthout. “Sometimes I manage to fill my containers. Many other times the water runs out before my turn, leaving desperate people who have queued for hours parched and empty-handed. Other times I see the endless line and give up. And sometimes fights erupt over the remaining water, so I am forced to avoid the battle.”

When that happens, Al-Shararha has no choice but to buy water, despite its soaring prices.

“I used to work as a freelancer before the genocide,” Al-Shararha lamented. “We lived a humble life in a residential tower where tap water was available around the clock.”

Babies in Gaza Die Preventable Deaths Due to Medical Shortages Imposed by Israel

Before the genocide, Gaza relied on three main water resources: three seawater desalination plants, providing around 7 percent of the Strip’s drinking water; three pipelines operated by the Israeli water company Mekorot, accounting for nearly 13 percent of Gaza’s drinking water; and a network of around 300 municipal wells tapping the Coastal Aquifer for desalination. Alongside them, three wastewater treatment plants recycled treated wastewater, primarily for agricultural use.

The director of the desalination plant in the Central Governorate of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, Dr. Muhammad Al-Abwini, told Truthout that, before October 7, 2023, the average share of water per person reached around 80 liters per day, including both domestic and drinking water.

“Although it was still far below the World Health Organization’s recommended [optimal] liters per person per day, it was a milestone for us. It was a breakthrough, given Gaza’s longstanding status quo,” he said.

Despite these achievements, a UN report released in 2018 warned that the water produced in Gaza was unfit for human consumption and that, unless urgent action was taken, the crisis would have disastrous consequences, rendering Gaza uninhabitable by 2020.

Al-Abwini explained that Gaza’s water insecurity largely stems from its geographical location along the coast. Seawater continuously leaks into the Coastal Aquifer, increasing the concentration of total dissolved salts and rendering much of the groundwater unfit for drinking.

“Before the genocide, people received 80 liters of water in their homes, with dignity. Today, 20 liters is the best we can offer, and even that reaches people through an exhausting and undignified process.”

“Before the genocide, people received 80 liters of water in their homes, with dignity. Today, 20 liters is the best we can offer, and even that reaches people through an exhausting and undignified process.”

“From there, several master plans were proposed to improve both the quality and quantity of water,” Al-Abwini said.

Yet since the first days of genocide, Israel has weaponized water, turning it into a tool of mass suffering. The Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the cutoff of water supplies to Gaza just days after October 7.

Then the systematic destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure followed. According to a report by Médecins Sans Frontières released in April 2026, about 90 percent of water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. Wastewater treatment plants have been put out of service, leaving sewage overflowing across displacement camps, while Gaza’s largest functioning desalination plants have been decimated.

Speaking in a weary voice, Al-Abwini told Truthout, “The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) system has been reduced to ashes. Before the genocide, it was designed with remarkable precision,........

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