Thirst and despair: Palestinians endure water crisis amid conflict

Daily struggles for water persist as Gaza faces devastation and international condemnation

Every morning, Palestinians queue for hours under the burning sun to fill their bottles and jerrycans with drinking water amid an Israeli war on the enclave, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday.

"Many of them have to walk long distances carrying heavy weights in the summer heat," the UN agency said in a statement. "This exhausting routine repeats again and again in Gaza," it added.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an October 7 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 38,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 88,900 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.