The Price of the Last Drops: Gaza’s Daily Journey for Water

In Gaza, water is not a guaranteed right… but a daily test of survival.

At sunrise, Um Hassan and her young daughter Amal begin their daily walk. The mother carries a heavy plastic jerrycan, while the girl drags a smaller one. Their destination is no stroll—it’s a public water point two kilometers away. Their goal? A few drops to survive another day.

In Gaza, taps don’t flow on demand. Bombing has crippled the infrastructure, and groundwater has been polluted by years of blockade and neglect. Over 90% of available water is unfit for drinking. Many children have never tasted clean water—only salt, rust, and the bitterness of waiting.

“We wash vegetables with tears, not water,” says Um Hassan.

With fuel shortages, desalination plants fall silent. When electricity is cut, water pumps stop too. And with each delay, thirst deepens. Aid organizations distribute limited quantities of water, but it’s never enough—especially in overcrowded camps where drinking, washing, and cooking must all be done with the same supply.

Eight-year-old Amal has learned to measure every drop. She fills the bottle, protects it, and guards it. At school, she sips only a little and saves the rest for her younger brother at home. She hasn’t caught cholera—yet. Many of her classmates have.

“I dream of turning on a faucet and watching the water flow… like the kids in cartoons.”

Despite the crisis, willpower remains unbroken. Local youth organize creative solutions: water tanks, manual pumps, solar filters—all while under threat of bombing. But even these efforts, no matter how heroic, are not a substitute for basic rights.

Water is not a luxury. Water is life. And in Gaza, life is now measured in liters.

Until the suffering ends, the journey continues. And Amal continues walking through the hot dust, just to carry a few drops… to keep her family alive.