Upon arriving at the "Al-Yassin" station, the largest desalination station in northern Gaza, Saleh Barakat, 42 years old, was surprised to find its doors closed until further notice.
Barakat was one of hundreds of citizens who returned to their families without providing drinking water for their children due to the closure of the station.
"I don't know how I will provide drinking water for my children. How will I tell them that they must remain thirsty!" Barakat told .
Currently, the Israeli army prevents the entry of fuel to operate desalination stations in northern Gaza, which has caused a severe water crisis and left about 400,000 Palestinians facing thirst, in addition to famine, forcing them to move to the southern part of the besieged coastal enclave.
Hunger and thirst
Since this October, the Israeli army has been conducting a massive ground invasion of the northern Gaza Strip, forcing thousands of Palestinians from their homes and destroying multiple residential areas, especially in the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia.
Mohammed Abu Odeh, director of the Al-Yassin station, which used to produce 400-500 thousand litres of water per day, confirms that its doors have been completely closed due to the lack of fuel.
"The station's closure has created a wide water crisis among the residents of the northern Gaza Strip, who are now searching for any source of drinking water to avoid thirst," Abu Odeh said to TNA.
He explained that he sent extensive appeals to all international organisations, such as the International Red Cross, to pressure the Israeli army to pass fuel to the desalination plants, "but to no avail."
Abu Odeh pointed out that the price of a litre of diesel in the northern Gaza Strip has reached $35, which has doubled the cost of producing water. He added, "The price of filling a 16-litre gallon of water has become seven shekels (about $2), after it did not exceed one shekel (or about $0.3) prior to Israel's war. This has never happened anywhere in the world."
"The lack of drinking water will pose major health risks to people and children, as we will be forced to drink untreated well water that is full of impurities and has high salinity," he said. "We have already chicken and rabbit feed to tackle the famine, and we will be forced to drink polluted and salty well water too."
Nadia Kassab, a mother of four who lost her husband in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, says that she is no longer able to provide drinking water for her children.
"Every time we go to the desalination plant, we find its doors closed. There is no other source for drinking water," she said to TNA.
Thousands at risk
While a major drinking water crisis looms over northern Gaza Strip, Kassab also noted this is happening while the people are facing other forms of suffering by Israel, "such as repeated to escape the bombing, and severe famine that has eaten away at our bodies and made us look like ghosts."
The closure of the Al-Yassin station negatively also impacts other desalination stations, increasing demand and thus consuming more fuel. They, too, are being forced to close their doors. One example, is the Qatrat Al-Wadi station, which produces about 180,000 litres of drinking water per day.
Adel Atallah, the Al-Wadi station's director, confirmed to TNA that the plant had to shut down due to the lack of fuel.
Atallah further explained that his station used to provide drinking water to about 90,000 people daily, with each individual's share of water rationed to about two litres per day and decreases with other uses of water such as cooking food.
He pointed out that the displacement of thousands of Palestinian families from the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia to different neighbourhoods in Gaza City also increased the burden on other desalination plants.
Atallah warned against the continued Israeli army's prevention of fuel, stressing that this will further thirst in the northern Gaza Strip and could lead to the death of thousands.
While the Israeli army prevents fuel for desalination plants in the northern Gaza Strip, the army does allow small quantities of fuel to enter bakeries to avoid international over a full-outbreak of famine.
A driver designated to transport fuel to the northern Gaza Strip, who refused to give his name, told TNA, that the Israeli army "asks drivers of fuel trailers to deliver it to bakeries only, and warns us against transporting it to any other places such as hospitals or desalination plants."
The driver explained that he carries fuel from the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, and transports it to the north with full coordination and supervision from the Israeli army.
He pointed out that this process does not occur daily, but only happens once or twice a week at the request of the Israeli army. "The quantities of fuel entering the northern Gaza Strip are very scarce and are not enough to meet the needs of the population for bread and water and to operate the hospitals," he said.
The director of field hospitals in Gaza, Marwan al-Hamas, reporters on 22 November that all hospitals in the Gaza Strip "will stop working or reduce their services due to Israel's ban on the entry of fuel."
“The delivery of vital aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, has gradually come to a halt,” Muhannad Hadi, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian Territories.