Taking refuge in the Mawassi area, which stretches along the southern coast of Gaza, Ahmed Rashad, a father of five, had to walk 5 kilometers under stifling heat to reach a freshwater tap. He is among the Gazans living in areas that are difficult for humanitarian water trucks to access due to the dangers posed by Israeli military operations. "From 7 am, you have to focus on finding water. I take my 13-year-old son. I carry two 20-liter jugs, and he carries one 10-liter jug. The hardest part is getting there: It's all uphill! On the way back, we're so thirsty we drink 2 or 3 liters right away," recounted Ahmed, 42, exhausted after 14 months of living in a tent.

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans like him struggle daily to find water for drinking and cooking. This ordeal can be deadly. On July 13, in Nuseirat, in the center of the Palestinian territory, seven children waiting to fill their bottles at a water truck were killed in an Israeli strike. Israel later called it a "technical error."

Like the famine, the water crisis is entirely man-made by Israel. Water supplies in the Gaza Strip depend on three main sources: desalination plants, underground wells and imports from Israel, which arrive through three connections in the north, center and south.

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