Humanitarian response to improve access to WASH services for the most vulnerable families in Area C of the West Bank. AAH’s proposed project aims to address the needs listed in the 2022 oPt Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), specifically WASH needs for vulnerable families in Area C of Hebron (communities of Susiya and Khallet Al Mayyah) and Bethlehem (communities of Um Salamuna and Beit Ta’mir) governorates. This project aligns with AAH’s Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) (HPSE22-WSH-183507-1) and the clusters’ strategic objectives. These groups suffer from the lack of, or limited, access to water and sanitation services due to Israeli restrictions on construction and development in the area, as well as the continuous threats to forcibly remove the families. Demolition and confiscation of WASH structures that took place until October 2022 were 38 structures (OCHA). The 4 target communities are farming and herding families dependent on livestock and agricultural activities to maintain their livelihoods, relying heavily on water availability, quality, and affordability. The lack of water has forced families to adopt negative coping mechanisms such as reducing their daily water consumption as stated in the WASH Vulnerability Map 2022, depending on unsafe water resources, or reducing their expenditures on basic needs such as health and education to afford the high cost of water. Families often disregard WASH facilities and prioritize other basic needs such as food and water. This coping mechanism has left many households in poor health, hygiene, privacy, and dignity conditions, which contributes to facing hygiene related diseases (WASH HNO 2022). The project is based on the identified needs in line with AAH’s assessments, namely the West Bank Protection Consortium’s community protection annual assessment, and with the coordination process with the relevant stakeholders Palestine Water Authority (PWA) and local councils and community representatives in all communities. The project includes these main activities: construction and rehabilitation of water distribution networks including: constructing a new water network for Susiya community (unconnected to water network) that will totally connect the community including its surroundings and serve more than 200 people who rely mainly on water trucking for agricultural and domestic usage, extend the existing water network in Umm Salamuna community through construction of new pipelines for the unconnected areas that will serve 1200 people, rehabilitate and extend the existing water network in coordination with the local council in Beit Ta’mir community to serve 250 people living in Area C who face difficulties to secure their basic needs from water, and extend the existing water network in Khallet Al Mayyah community through construction of new pipelines for the unconnected areas to serve 350 people. These activities fall within the full coverage approach that AAH adopts to cover all needs in the different sectors, as identified in the continuous assessments for Area C communities, to allow focus on other communities. 
The intervention aims at improving the living conditions of the families in the four proposed locations through the provision of proper, safe, and adequate water and sanitation services. This project is expected to meet one of the most urgent WASH needs of the targeted families and to alleviate their suffering, improve access to services, and enhance their resilience.