Gaza City faces worsening crisis due to complete water well shutdown: media office

GAZA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Hamas-run government media office warned on Friday that Gaza City is facing an environmental disaster due to the complete shutdown of water wells for two weeks.

Salama Marouf, head of the Gaza-based media office, said in a statement that the disaster, which is threatening the residents, is caused by the depletion of "scarce fuel provided to Gaza Municipality during the past period."

Gaza City "is experiencing a state of severe thirst due to the water cut-off, especially with the continued suspension of water pumping from the water line operated by Israel's national water company Mekorot since the beginning of the war and the destruction of the desalination plant (the only one in the city), more than 40 water wells, and 120 km of water networks in the city," Marouf said.

The official mentioned that the crisis has reached its peak, as the temperatures are on the rise and the demand for water is increasing.

He called on all relevant parties to provide urgently needed fuel and restore water supply to the residents, urging the international community to supply the necessary equipment and machinery for their work, especially in light of "the heavy burden currently placed on them in serving the population."

Gaza has been suffering from a complete power outage since last October, following Israel's halt of electricity and fuel supplies to the enclave, which led to the closure of the only power generation station in Gaza.

This forced the basic service infrastructure to rely on backup generators, which are limited due to the scarcity of fuel in the strip.