In the midst of Israel’s ongoing siege and shelling of the Palestinian territory, UNICEF warned on Wednesday that displaced Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip are not consuming ninety percent of the necessary daily intake of water.
UNICEF estimates that children in southern Gaza are only using and eating one and a half to two liters of water per day, significantly below the average guideline for survival.
Humanitarian aid standards state that while the anticipated minimum for survival is only three liters per day, the minimum amount of water needed in emergency situations is fifteen liters for cooking, drinking, and bathing.
The UN agency emphasized that children are particularly affected since they are more prone to dehydration, diarrhea, malnutrition, and other illnesses that can make survival in times of war dangerous. Such situations are especially dangerous during times of war, like the one that has raged in the Gaza Strip for 76 days as of this Thursday.
“Children in Gaza barely have a drop to drink, and access to adequate amounts of clean water is a matter of life and death,” stated UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
