Officials from various UN agencies on Tuesday expressed their condemnation and grave concern over the Israeli army's destruction of water supply and sewage facilities, further endangering children in the besieged enclave where the infectious poliovirus has been found.
James Elder, spokesman of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the Israeli attacks against water facilities demonstrate a blatant disregard for children's rights and will accelerate the spread of diseases and other health concerns.
"That report that many of you will have seen of one of the main water facilities in Rafah being blown up is of course abhorrent and again demonstrates a flagrant disregard for children's rights. It is yet another grim reminder on these assaults on families who are already in desperate need of water. Without it, already vulnerable children or families, they're likely to be forced again, increasingly, to resort to unsafe water, so putting them in all those risks that we see time and time again, day after day in Gaza, dehydration, malnutrition, diseases," he said.
In addition to the destruction of water supply facilities, five major sewage treatment facilities in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), exacerbating the spread of various diseases.
The Gaza health ministry also declared a polio epidemic in the region on July 29.
On July 26, the World Health Organization announced that it would provide over 1 million polio vaccines to Gaza.
However, the ongoing conflict has greatly hindered the delivery of vaccines, and the lack of fuel in the Gaza Strip has also made the storage of vaccines a problem.
According to Ahmed al-Fara, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital in Gaza, power outages due to a lack of fuel to generate electricity would mean refrigerators where the vaccines are stored would not be operational.
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier called for parties to the conflict to ensure aid trucks are able to transport the vaccines.
"We need, again, a ceasefire. [That would be] the best, but at least cleared and safe roads, safe access. Otherwise, the vaccines would be sitting as many other trucks are across the border, either on the Rafah side or at the other checkpoints either inside or just inside or outside Gaza, with not much help," Lindmeier said.
Bombing of Gaza water facilities further endangers children as disease spreads
Bombing of Gaza water facilities further endangers children as disease spreads
