Key events
The Associated Press is reporting on how the summer heat in Gaza has set off a “domino effect”, intensifying hardship for its two million inhabitants.
Aid groups have long warned that reduced water availability, crippled sanitation networks, and shrinking living spaces threaten to cause illnesses. This scorching summer coincides with a lack of clean water for the majority of Gaza’s population, most of whom are displaced in tented communities.
Many Palestinians in the besieged territory must walk long distances to fetch water, and ration each drop, limiting their ability to wash and keep cool. Fuel is needed to pump water from wells and operate desalination plants, but Israel has stopped it from getting into the territory.
The only way Rida Abu Hadayed can offer her children relief is by fanning them with a tray or bits of paper – whatever she can find. If she has water, she pours it over them, but that is an increasingly scarce resource.
“There is no electricity. There is nothing,” she said. “They cannot sleep. They keep crying all day until the sun sets.”
“We are only at the beginning of summer,” Hadayed’s husband, Yousef, said. “And our situation is dire.”
“Our lives in the tent are miserable,” he added. “We spend our days pouring water over their heads and their skin. Water itself is scarce. It is very difficult to get that water.”
Mohammed al-Awini said: “We are awake all night, dying from mosquito bites. We are the most tired people in the world.”
