A new report shared by Eyad Amawi, an NGO coordinator in Gaza, warns that the enclave is sliding into what he describes as an unfolding environmental and biological apocalypse. The crisis, driven by systemic infrastructure collapse and punishing blockade conditions, now threatens to kill more Palestinians through disease and starvation.
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Gaza: Water scarcity plunges far below emergency standards as diseases spike
According to the report, 97% of Gaza’s groundwater is now undrinkable. Water access has plunged to just 3–5 litres per person per day and drops to 1–3 litres in the north.
This is far below emergency standards. The shortage has fuelled nearly half a million cases of acute diarrhoea, many of them among children.
All sewage systems lie offline. Every day, 130,000 cubic metres of untreated waste are discharged directly into the sea.
Additionally, around 500,000 tonnes of garbage now blanket displacement sites. 80% of those areas are infested with rats carrying dozens of diseases.
Strikes destroy 71% of desalination plants, threatening irreversible collapse
The destruction of water infrastructure compounds the catastrophe. Israeli strikes have destroyed 71% of desalination plants and 80% of wider water infrastructure.
Amawi calls the crisis a deliberate and calculated ecological disaster. He warns that aquifer damage and seawater intrusion risk long-term, irreversible collapse.
“This could kill more than bombs,” he said while urging immediate international intervention.
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, has said that recovery remains out of reach for civilians in Gaza. This is despite the six-month ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Palestine.
In another development, two Dutch nationals arrived in the Netherlands after being captured and detained for participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla. The flotilla was on a mission to deliver aid to Gaza.
Organisers planned to challenge the Israeli blockade of aid into the region after direct calls for aid in Gaza. The Israeli navy intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla when it was about 600 nautical miles from Gaza.