‘Humanitarian crisis looming in Gaza’

Palestinian officials are warning that a humanitarian crisis is imminent in the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip as the coastal sliver is wrestling with severe shortage of water and electricity, Press TV reports.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority announced that the densely-populated territory is currently operating on six hours of electricity per day, and the authority will be able to continue supplying Gaza with that amount of power each day for another two months.

The Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority further noted that damages done to generators, poles, high pressure cables, main power containers, and warehouses across Gaza Strip in the wake of recent Israeli military strikes will cost $35 million to repair.

Gaza’s sole power plant came under Israeli shelling on July 29, and stopped functioning. The damage is said to take up to a year to fix.

Meanwhile, there is the scarcity of clean water especially at UN-run schools, where nearly 22,000 Palestinian refugees are sheltering.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, various diseases are spreading among the refugee population due to the lack of water and hygiene.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says water shortage is due to the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza infrastructure.

Nearly 2,000 Palestinians, including 470 children, have lost their lives and more than 10,200 have been wounded since the Israeli military unleashed fatal assaults on the Gaza Strip more than a month ago.

Human rights groups say Israeli forces are systematically killing Palestinian children and youth.