Israel turns on the tap
There is water again in the southern Gaza Strip
October 15, 2023, 6:17 p.m
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After the Hamas attack, Israel seals off the Gaza Strip. This also affects the electricity and water supply. At least in the south of the coastal area, Israel is turning the tap back on in coordination with the USA.
Israel has restored water supplies to the south of the Gaza Strip. According to Energy Minister Israel Katz, the decision was coordinated with the USA. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden had agreed on this, Katz said. This is in line with Israel’s policy of tightening the blockade of territory controlled by the radical Hamas. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had previously stated in US media that Israel had “turned the water supply back on in the southern Gaza Strip.”
Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack a week ago; the blockade also affects electricity and water supplies. The delivery of fuel and food to the densely populated coastal strip was also stopped. On Friday, the Israeli army also called on civilians in the north of the Gaza Strip to flee to the south.
Around a million displaced people
The United Nations estimates that around a million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip in the first week of the war between Israel and Hamas. The actual number of internally displaced people is likely to be even higher as many people in the coastal area continued to leave their homes, said UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) spokeswoman Juliette Touma.
The Israeli army assured again on Sunday that it would not carry out any attacks on a route from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south within a period of three hours so that residents of the Palestinian territory could reach safety. Israel accuses Hamas of blocking the escape of civilians in order to abuse them as “human shields.”