Response to the urgent WASH humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip The aim of this project is to provide emergency WASH response to the shortages to municipal water access resulting from the chronic interrupted power supply in Gaza. This will be achieved through the provision of solar system to four main critical water facilities in Gaza City, as follows: Al Shiekh Radwan well 7A, Al Shiekh Radwan well 7, Al Shiekh Radwan well 1, and AlShajaaya water well. This will substantially increase the access to domestic water, and to reduce the risks of public health deterioration.

The situation in Gaza has been exacerbated in the past 10 years by the closure and three major escalations of hostilities. This has led to increasing the deprivations and vulnerabilities of around two million Palestinians (half of whom are children) living in Gaza. Families struggle to get by with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world at 41.7%, disproportionally affecting youth (60%) and women (65.3%).


Water and sanitation (WASH) infrastructure and delivery has been impacted by recurrent conflict, the over-exploitation of resources and restrictions on the import of "dual use" WASH items. Over 95 per cent of the water extracted from the aquifer is unfit for human consumption, with the result that 90 per cent of people in Gaza rely on purchasing desalinated water from private trucking, posing a heavy financial burden on already impoverished families and health risks due to widespread contamination of that source.

Gaza has been supplied with only about 3-6 hours of electricity per day, down from 8-12 hours before April 2017. The longer blackouts have had a pervasive impact on all aspects of life, undermining the adequate delivery of basic services and generating serious public health concerns. Increased electricity cuts have further reduced the drinkable/ piped water supply and the operation of approximately 130 critical water and sanitation facilities. 

According to the rapid assessment conducted by the WASH Cluster in August 2017, the energy crisis has led to reduced water supply from 84 litres per capita per day to about 54 litres per capita per day, and piped water supply has reduced to four to six hours every three to five days. Another major consequence of the electricity deficit has been the impact on wastewater treatment, with approximately three million cubic meters of poorly treated wastewater discharged monthly into the Mediterranean Sea, contaminating 73 per cent of the Gaza Strip shoreline and heightening the risk of the overflow of raw sewage into the streets of Gaza. 

The above-mentioned situation places over one million of the population of the Gaza strip, particularly children, at serious public health risk and subjects them to environmental contamination, with increased prevalence of diarrhea, hepatitis A, meningitis, etc. 

This project will thus, aim to support the provision of alternative energy sources (solar), alternative solutions to water access, located in vulnerable communities. This project is aligned with the current Gaza WASH Cluster Response Framework and with the second allocation strategy for 2018.

The main specific objective of this project is to the ensure adequate access for municipal water through the timely operation of four critical water facilities (Strategic Objective 1, 2).