Satellite images show a water factory in Gaza City burned down amid a dire water shortage.
A water treatment plant on the outskirts of Gaza City has been destroyed by fire, satellite images taken Thursday and Friday showed – the latest evidence of damage to water infrastructure amid an increasingly dire shortage of clean water.
A satellite photo taken Thursday shows a huge plume of smoke rising from the fire and hanging over a wide swath of the city. The fire burned for at least four hours. An image from Friday shows the entire factory destroyed.
It was not clear what caused the fire or how recently the plant had been in operation.
The fire broke out during a water crisis in Gaza, which UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned about 70 percent of the people in the Gaza Strip drink contaminated water. With critical infrastructure destroyed and relatively few trucks carrying fuel and water allowed into Gaza, the water emergency has only worsened.
A UN expert on Friday Israel urged to allow clean water into the territory, along with fuel to run water purification systems, and called on the country to “stop using water as a weapon of war.”
The expert, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the organization’s special rapporteur on human rights and drinking water, told The New York Times that Israel’s bombing campaign has hit wells, water tanks and other water supply infrastructure. With little potable groundwater, Gaza relies heavily on desalination and water brought in from outside.
“But above all, the complete shutdown of electricity and fuel supplies, desalination plants and groundwater pumping has collapsed the functioning of the electricity grid,” he said.
Wim Zwijnenburga conflict and environmental researcher for the Dutch organization PAXwho shared details from an upcoming report on the destruction of water infrastructure, also said Pax has “identified numerous water supplies that have been damaged or destroyed, depriving citizens of access to clean water.”
The damage to infrastructure caused by the ongoing fighting “poses acute long-term health and environmental risks” for the people of Gaza, he said.
A private company, Abdul Salam Yaseen Company, also called Eta Water Company, operated out of the factory that burned down this week. Older images show the words “Water plant” were written in large letters on the roof of the building, clearly visible from the air.
Eta Water could not be reached, probably due to ongoing communications disruptions in Gaza.
Both the company’s website and Facebook page highlight its work with humanitarian organizations in Gaza. Eta’s latest social media post, op November 8, showed that the company installed water desalination units that it said were funded by UNICEF at a busy refugee camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. a September message by the company highlighted a project with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Aid agencies did not immediately respond to questions about whether the destruction of Eta’s facility would have an immediate impact on access to clean water. The Times viewed satellite images of water trucks lining up at the factory as recently as Oct. 12, before most residents fled northern Gaza for the south and Israel launched a ground invasion that, along with Israel’s bombing campaign, has destroyed large parts of Gaza to leave. City in ruins.
There have been street fights near the power plant, but it is unclear whether fighting also took place in the area on Thursday. Friday’s satellite image does not appear to show the large impact crater typically left behind by an Israeli airstrike.
Israeli ground forces were active nearby; Sometime in the 24 hours leading up to the fire, the Israelis appeared to have bulldozed an area 400 feet from the plant, and new tracks of heavy vehicles were visible. Israeli tanks and other military vehicles were stationed less than a mile away.
Approach Ibrahim reporting contributed.