This document delves into the water supply aspects within the Gaza Strip, amid concerns over potential escalations in the Israeli-Hamas-Gaza conflict, particularly focusing on the implications of a complete blockade on Gaza's water resources. The document outlines the primary water source, the Coastal Aquifer Basin, and other sources including brackish water treatment plants, desalination facilities, and water provision from Israel, as stipulated by the 1993 Oslo Accords. The document also touches on future considerations to address water shortage, like central desalination plants and transboundary water import. While the brief doesn't delve into the political aspect of war crimes allegations, it highlights the potential humanitarian crisis regarding water scarcity, emphasizing the critical importance of water infrastructure in ensuring potable water availability in the Gaza Strip.
1. Brief
Water Resources in Gaza Strip
Franklin Factum Forge∗
October 19, 2023
1 Background: Gaza Territory
The Gaza Strip (i.e., Gaza) is a Palestinian exclave and borders the Mediter-
ranean Sea to the west, Egypt to the south, and Israel to the east and north[3, 1].
The governance of Gaza has been under Hamas1
since June 2007. A blockade of
varying degrees has been imposed on Gaza by Egypt and Israel since 2005[14].
The blockade focuses on restricting the movement of goods and people. The
population of Gaza as of 2023 is reported to be approximately 2.1 million peo-
ple, with the majority identifying as ”Palestinian Arab Muslims”[3].
2 Inquiry: Gaza’s Water Supply Sources?
The objective of the brief is to answer the question regarding the primary water
sources within the Gaza Strip. This inquiry is prompted by recent events indi-
cating that the Israeli government has intensified the blockade on Gaza, poten-
tially rendering all water resources unavailable[16]. According to scholars[13]
and UN experts[10], such action, even during wartime, is considered an act
against humanity and therefore constitutes a war crime2
. In order to under-
stand the implications of the current Israel-Hamas-Gaza conflict related to the
terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, this brief aims to answer the
specific question:
What are the potable and municipal water sources
in the Gaza Strip and where are they obtained from?
Note that in this brief I will not be providing an assessment of Israel with re-
gard to the UN definition of war crimes since such charges should be determined
∗The author’s name is a pseudonym chosen in the spirit of Benjamin Franklin’s keen pursuit
of truth and facts.
1The name Hamas is an anglicized acronym for the Arabic name Harakat al-Muqawamah
al-Islamiyyah, which translates to English as Islamic Resistance Movement.
2This brief will not address the claim of war crimes.
2. Brief
in international courts. The primary focus is to provide insight into whether a
full blockade of Gaza would eliminate all water resources in the territory.
3 Findings
3.1 Primary Water Source
The primary source of water in the Gaza Strip is the Coastal Aquifer Basin[6,
12]. This aquifer extends along the eastern Mediterranean coast from the north-
ern Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, through Gaza, and into Israel[2, 6, 12]. The esti-
mated safe yield of this aquifer is 50-55 million cubic meters per year, while the
current groundwater extraction is about 170 million cubic meters per year[12, 5].
3.2 Brackish Water Treatment
Gaza hosts three brackish water treatment plants installed by UNICEF which
help to improve the quality of water from the Coastal Aquifer Basin, although
the exact quantity of water treated is not specified in the sources provided [15, 7].
The operation of these water treatment plants, given the current Israeli-Hamas-
Gaza conflict, is unknown.
3.3 Desalination
Desalination plants, operated by UNICEF and Palestinian organizations and
located along the Mediterranean Sea coastline, serve as another source of water
for Gaza. The exact quantity of water produced by these plants is poorly
accounted for in the provided references [2, 6, 12, 5]. It is worth mentioning
that shutdowns of these plants occur during electricity cuts3
. The operation of
the desalination plants as a result of the current Israeli-Hamas-Gaza conflict is
unknown during the drafting of this brief.
3.4 Water Provided by Israel
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords[11], Israel committed to providing some quantities
of water to Gaza. More specifically, Israel supplied about 14.2 million gallons
of water a day to Gaza, which constituted about 10% of Gaza’s daily water
demand[8]. Prior to 2014, Israel sold Gaza approximately 4.2 million cubic
meters of water a year and had agreed to sell another 5 million cubic meters
of desalinated water annually, although the infrastructure for delivering this
additional water is yet to be developed [4]. In 2015, an Israeli army official
announced plans to double the annual quantity of water provided to Gaza to
help avert a water crisis in the territory[9].
3The Gaza Strip also relies on a percentage of electrical power from Israel, however, this
brief does not address this inquiry
3. Brief
3.5 Considerations for Future Water Sources
There have been considerations to build a central desalination plant, import
water from Egypt or Israel (transboundary water), and develop additional de-
salination plants as unconventional sources of drinking water to address the
shortfall [5].
4 Summary
This brief has attempted to provide a highly-sourced response to the prompted
question. The findings indicate that a full blockade of water by Israel would
not leave Gaza without water resources. However, the depletion of the Coastal
Aquifer Basin and the operation of desalination plants remain concerns for the
governance entities of Gaza. The effects could be more detrimental in terms of
potable water, as the infrastructure needed to process contaminated water from
the Coastal Aquifer Basin or desalination may be lacking.
References
[1] https://www.britannica.com/place/Gaza-Strip, October 2023.
[2] Yousef S. Abu-Maila and Yousef F. Abu-Maila. Water Resource Issues in
the Gaza Strip. Area, 23(3):209–216, 1991.
[3] U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook.
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/gaza-strip, September
2023.
[4] B’Tselem. Over 90% of water in Gaza Strip unfit for drinking.
https://www.btselem.org/gaza strip/20140209 gaza water crisis, feb 2014.
[5] World Bank Group. Securing Water for
Development in West Bank and Gaza.
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/736571530044615402/Securing-
water-for-development-in-West-Bank-and-Gaza-sector-note.pdf.
[6] Emily MacDonald, Bernardo Guzman Herrador, Susanne Hyllestad, Vidar
Lund, Karin Nygård, Line Vold, Mohamed Lafi, Walaa Ammar, and Bjørn
Iversen. Water usage in the Gaza Strip: recommendations from a litera-
ture review and consultations with experts. Eastern Mediterranean Health
Journal, 22(12):910–918, February 2017.
[7] Yunes Mogheir, Ahmad A. Foul, A. A. Abuhabib, and A. W. Moham-
mad. Large-scale brackish water desalination plants in Gaza Strip: as-
sessments and improvements. Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination,
3(3):315–324, September 2013.
4. Brief
[8] Circle of Blue. Israel Pledges to Resume Gaza Water Deliv-
eries. https://www.circleofblue.org/2023/hotspots/hotspots-h20-israel-
pledges-to-resume-gaza-water-deliveries, 2023.
[9] The Times of Israel. Israel to double water delivery to Gaza.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-double-water-delivery-to-gaza,
mar 2015.
[10] OHCHR. Gaza: UN experts decry bombing of hospitals and schools as
crimes against humanity, call for prevention of genocide — ohchr.org.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/gaza-un-experts-decry-
bombing-hospitals-and-schools-crimes-against-humanity, Oct 2023.
[11] UN Peacemaker. Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II). https://peacemaker.un.org/israelopt-
osloII95, 1993.
[12] Mohammed Seyam, Jawad S. Alagha, Taher Abunama, Yunes Mogheir,
Augustine Chioma Affam, Mohammad Heydari, and Khaled Ramlawi. In-
vestigation of the Influence of Excess Pumping on Groundwater Salinity in
the Gaza Coastal Aquifer (Palestine) Using Three Predicted Future Sce-
narios. Water, 12(8):2218, Aug 2020.
[13] Mara Tignino. The regulation of crimes against water in armed conflicts
and other situations of violence. International Review of the Red Cross,
105(923):706–734, August 2023.
[14] UNICEF. The Gaza Strip The humanitarian impact of 15 years of block-
ade . https://www.unicef.org/mena/documents/gaza-strip-humanitarian-
impact-15-years-blockade-june-2022, June 2022.
[15] UNICEF. A fresh solution to Gaza’s water crisis. https://www.unicef.org,
2023.
[16] Human Rights Watch. Israel: Unlawful Gaza Blockade Deadly for Children
— hrw.org. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel-unlawful-gaza-
blockade-deadly-children, Oct 2023.
![Brief
Water Resources in Gaza Strip
Franklin Factum Forge∗
October 19, 2023
1 Background: Gaza Territory
The Gaza Strip (i.e., Gaza) is a Palestinian exclave and borders the Mediter-
ranean Sea to the west, Egypt to the south, and Israel to the east and north[3, 1].
The governance of Gaza has been under Hamas1
since June 2007. A blockade of
varying degrees has been imposed on Gaza by Egypt and Israel since 2005[14].
The blockade focuses on restricting the movement of goods and people. The
population of Gaza as of 2023 is reported to be approximately 2.1 million peo-
ple, with the majority identifying as ”Palestinian Arab Muslims”[3].
2 Inquiry: Gaza’s Water Supply Sources?
The objective of the brief is to answer the question regarding the primary water
sources within the Gaza Strip. This inquiry is prompted by recent events indi-
cating that the Israeli government has intensified the blockade on Gaza, poten-
tially rendering all water resources unavailable[16]. According to scholars[13]
and UN experts[10], such action, even during wartime, is considered an act
against humanity and therefore constitutes a war crime2
. In order to under-
stand the implications of the current Israel-Hamas-Gaza conflict related to the
terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, this brief aims to answer the
specific question:
What are the potable and municipal water sources
in the Gaza Strip and where are they obtained from?
Note that in this brief I will not be providing an assessment of Israel with re-
gard to the UN definition of war crimes since such charges should be determined
∗The author’s name is a pseudonym chosen in the spirit of Benjamin Franklin’s keen pursuit
of truth and facts.
1The name Hamas is an anglicized acronym for the Arabic name Harakat al-Muqawamah
al-Islamiyyah, which translates to English as Islamic Resistance Movement.
2This brief will not address the claim of war crimes.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/gazawaterresourcesfff-231024014756-037ef42b/85/Water-Resources-in-Gaza-Strip-1-320.jpg)
![Brief
in international courts. The primary focus is to provide insight into whether a
full blockade of Gaza would eliminate all water resources in the territory.
3 Findings
3.1 Primary Water Source
The primary source of water in the Gaza Strip is the Coastal Aquifer Basin[6,
12]. This aquifer extends along the eastern Mediterranean coast from the north-
ern Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, through Gaza, and into Israel[2, 6, 12]. The esti-
mated safe yield of this aquifer is 50-55 million cubic meters per year, while the
current groundwater extraction is about 170 million cubic meters per year[12, 5].
3.2 Brackish Water Treatment
Gaza hosts three brackish water treatment plants installed by UNICEF which
help to improve the quality of water from the Coastal Aquifer Basin, although
the exact quantity of water treated is not specified in the sources provided [15, 7].
The operation of these water treatment plants, given the current Israeli-Hamas-
Gaza conflict, is unknown.
3.3 Desalination
Desalination plants, operated by UNICEF and Palestinian organizations and
located along the Mediterranean Sea coastline, serve as another source of water
for Gaza. The exact quantity of water produced by these plants is poorly
accounted for in the provided references [2, 6, 12, 5]. It is worth mentioning
that shutdowns of these plants occur during electricity cuts3
. The operation of
the desalination plants as a result of the current Israeli-Hamas-Gaza conflict is
unknown during the drafting of this brief.
3.4 Water Provided by Israel
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords[11], Israel committed to providing some quantities
of water to Gaza. More specifically, Israel supplied about 14.2 million gallons
of water a day to Gaza, which constituted about 10% of Gaza’s daily water
demand[8]. Prior to 2014, Israel sold Gaza approximately 4.2 million cubic
meters of water a year and had agreed to sell another 5 million cubic meters
of desalinated water annually, although the infrastructure for delivering this
additional water is yet to be developed [4]. In 2015, an Israeli army official
announced plans to double the annual quantity of water provided to Gaza to
help avert a water crisis in the territory[9].
3The Gaza Strip also relies on a percentage of electrical power from Israel, however, this
brief does not address this inquiry](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)