The United Arab Emirates on Friday opened a 7.5-kilometer (4.7-mile) pipeline to channel desalinated water from plants it has built in Egypt to the southern Gaza Strip, where nearly two years of war have devastated infrastructure and compounded already existing shortages of clean drinking water.

Dubbed “Operation Chivalrous Knight 3,� the pipeline can carry a daily 7,570 cubic meters (two million gallons), according to a statement by the Emirati news agency, WAM.

It is connected to the Al-Buraq reservoir in Khan Younis, which has a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters (1.32 million gallons) and is expected to provide clean water to hundreds of thousands of people in and around the al-Mawasi area on the coast of the southern Gaza Strip, where many of Gaza’s displaced residents reside.

Work on the project began in July.

Over the 22 months of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, Gaza’s water access has been progressively strained.

Limits on fuel imports and electricity have hindered the operation of desalination plants, while infrastructure bottlenecks and pipeline damage have restricted delivery to a trickle. Gaza’s aquifers are polluted by sewage and the wreckage of bombed buildings. Wells are mostly inaccessible or destroyed, according to aid groups and the local utility.

The WAM statement said, “This milestone project builds on continuous Emirati efforts in Gaza, which have included establishing six desalination plants, providing reservoirs and tankers, and maintaining wells. It represents a vital lifeline for residents of the Gaza Strip and helps alleviate the water crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.”

Agencies contributed to this report.