UN: 96% of Gaza households face water insecurity

Displaced Palestinians in Gaza City fill jerrycans from water delivered by tankers to meet their daily needs on July 17, 2025, as they struggle to survive under Israeli attacks without access to basic necessities like shelter, food, and clean water. [Mahmoud İssa – Anadolu Agency]

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned of the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where 96 per cent of households face water insecurity and are unable to safely access water for daily use.

OCHA said in an update posted on its X account on Sunday that the famine scenario is looming over the Strip with a near-complete collapse of the water and sanitation systems.

OCHA added that 90 per cent of the population reported worsened drinking water availability amid a destroyed infrastructure and a depletion of basic resources, which increases the likelihood of disease outbreaks and malnutrition.

The UN agency added that 75 per cent of the Strip’s population “face toilet access issues,” which further worsens the growing humanitarian crisis.

OCHA’s warnings come amid a continued blockade and a deterioration in life conditions, and as international aid agencies call for urgent intervention to secure basic needs for Gaza’s population.

READ: EU commissioner calls on Israel to end Gaza starvation

0 Comments

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.