Every three days, the al-Natour family has two hours to stock up on water.
Mohammed, 54, his wife, Khitam, who is in her 40s, and their four daughters and two sons use this precious window to fill containers for all of their drinking and cleaning needs. They need to do this quickly before the tap runs dry again in their home in the al-Shati refugee camp in the north of Gaza. Their situation in Gaza is not uncommon.
Like the Natours, thousands of families face severe shortages of clean water and go through the same motions in Gaza every week.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that individuals in Gaza should have access to at least 100 litres of water per day. But experts say Palestinians in Gaza have an average of 60 to 70 litres each day, with many having access to just 20 to 30 litres.
The little water that residents of the Gaza Strip can access is untreated and unhealthy. Causes of the shortage are complicated, with devastating consequences that some argue amount to a violation of human rights.
Source: MEE
