Gaza water crisis worsens as main desalination plant shuts down
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Gaza’s main desalination plant shuts down amid fuel shortages and Israeli blockade, deepening a water crisis threatening over 1.2 million residents.
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A Palestinian man fills a truck before distributing water to displaced people in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 19, 2025 (AP)
The Gaza Municipality announced Monday that the main desalination plant in the northern part of the city has ceased operations entirely, as the fuel crisis deepens and Israeli aggression continues, plunging the city into a severe state of thirst.
According to the municipality, the shutdown of the Mekorot water supply line, alongside the worsening fuel shortage, has severely exacerbated the already dire water crisis gripping Gaza.
The city’s main water line has stopped functioning, cutting off water access to vast areas across the municipality. The situation, officials warn, is quickly escalating into an imminent humanitarian disaster.
1.2 million people at risk
Most water wells across Gaza have stopped pumping due to the lack of fuel, the municipality added, putting more than 1.2 million displaced persons and residents at direct risk due to the collapse of water infrastructure and the absence of emergency response.
The Israeli occupation continues to enforce a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, controlling all water sources and preventing the entry of equipment and fuel necessary to operate desalination stations and wells. These policies have compounded the territory’s persistent water crisis.
The halted Mekorot line, one of the few external sources supplying Gaza with water, is now seen as a central factor in deepening the humanitarian emergency, with more than a million lives threatened in the absence of any effective international intervention.
'Israel' massacres water-seeking children
At least eight Palestinians, most of them children, were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded last week after an Israeli missile strike hit central Gaza, according to local officials. The Israeli military alleged the missile missed its intended target due to a technical malfunction.
In a statement, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) said the strike was aimed at an Islamic Jihad operative in the area, but the missile landed "dozens of metres from the target."
The missile struck a water distribution site in the al-Nuseirat refugee camp, killing six children and injuring 17 others, according to Dr. Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at al-Awda Hospital.
Water shortages in Gaza have escalated in recent weeks, with fuel shortages forcing the shutdown of desalination and sanitation plants. Residents have increasingly relied on distribution centers to collect water in plastic containers.
