Much of Gaza's water needs are covered by desalinated seawater. Desalination is an energy-intensive process, and the necessary electricity has been provided by Israel via power lines across the border.
But on Sunday, Energy Minister Eli Cohen ordered an immediate power outage - a step in Israel's pressure to make terrorist-stamped Hamas more cooperative ahead of the continued ceasefire in the war.
Fuel and Sun
According to Al Jazeera, Gaza's only functioning desalination plant supplies at least half a million people with water. Israel "cut off the power yesterday, but the plant is still working", reports the Arabic media company's reporter on the spot on Monday morning. "It apparently has a fuel reserve, we can hear the generators. There are also solar panels", she writes. "But the amount that can be produced without a power grid is not as large".
At the same time, the border crossings between Israel and Gaza have also been closed for over a week. This means that no new deliveries of fossil fuels, food, and medicine will arrive. The Gazans must therefore make do with stored supplies plus locally produced food, such as fish.
Cool Nights
But even industries like fishing have almost been knocked out by the war. Already during the first half of the war, daily catches dropped by over 90 percent, cites news agency AFP from UN statistics.
A large part of the population is now living as refugees in tents. Spring is making it steadily warmer, but nighttime temperatures can still drop to around ten degrees.
