GENEVA, Oct 14 (Bernama-AA) -- Two million people across Gaza are in danger of running out of water, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Saturday.
"It has become a matter of life and death. It is a must; fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for 2 million people," Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general, said in a statement.
"No humanitarian supplies have been allowed into Gaza for a week now," Anadolu Agency reported he said.
People are being forced to use dirty water from wells after Gaza's water plant and public water networks stopped working, he said, warning that the situation is exacerbating the risk of waterborne diseases.
He added that Gaza has also been under an electricity blackout since Wednesday, which also impacts the water supply.
Lazzarini stressed that drinking water is also running out in south Gaza, where thousands of people have sought refuge since Israel on Friday ordered over 1 million Gazans to leave their homes in the northern strip to go to the south.
"Only in the past 12 hours, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced," Lazzarini said. "The exodus continues as people move to the southern parts of the Gaza Strip. Nearly 1 million people have been displaced in one week alone."
He emphasised the need for sending fuel into Gaza, saying: "Fuel is the only way for people to have safe drinking water. If not, people will start dying of severe dehydration, among them young children, the elderly, and women."
Water is now “the last remaining lifeline,” he said. "I appeal for the siege on humanitarian assistance to be lifted now".
Meanwhile, the number of Palestinians killed by a massive Israeli air assault against the Gaza Strip since Oct 7 has risen to 2,215, Anadolu Agency reported the Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday.
The ministry in a statement that 724 children and 458 women were among the people killed in the Israeli attacks, while the number of wounded has risen to 8,714, including 2,450 children and 1,536 women.
-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU
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