The last offensive launched by Israel against the people of the Gaza strip has left lasting and extensive damage on crucial infrastructure which has left the Palestinian people struggling to even find a clean source of water.
Out of the five water treatment plants 3 were damaged in the last offensive in turn contaminating the water supply and putting the population at risk.
90-95 percent of Gaza’s main water supply was not potable and unsuitable for agricultural use in Sept. 2014, according to Israeli human rights organization B’tselem.
According to US sources estimated that the damage done to homes and infrastructure could be in the region of $5 billion to repair and build again.
A report released by the International Committee of The Red Cross documents the extensive damage on water, sanitation and energy infrastructure.
Not only was crucial infrastructure damaged over 10,000 homes were completely damaged and over 30,000 homes had been severely damaged.
The only power station which operates in Gaza was struck multiple times which left it nearly un-operational and an estimate by the ICRC estimates that it will take close to a year before the station becomes fully operational again leaving many thousands without electricity.
During the Israeli offensive 14 technicians from the water and energy sector were killed 8 of which were killed while undertaking emergency repairs in some of the conflict zones at the time.
“We still don’t know the full scope of the damage. We are talking about billions, but any attempt to estimate costs at this stage would not be serious,” says Badiei, who heads the Red Cross civil engineering department in Gaza. According to Badiei, “What is clear already is that the damage is far greater than it was in previous rounds of fighting.”
The eyes of the worlds media have been taken off the situation in Gaza neglecting the fact that still the people go thru a horrific daily struggle be that to find clean water to use both domestically and for agriculture or struggling to find shelter for their families.
The work to reconstruct the infrastructure of the Gaza strip has been very slow getting off the ground and will take many years to fully repair the fact the 8 year old siege still exists makes it even more difficult and is one of the reasons why repair work has been so slow.
The International Committee of the Red Cross released a video on July 17 2014 to raise awareness of sanitation risks caused by damaged infrastructure in Gaza.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/damage-water-infrastructure-endangers-everyone-203521313.html
The Risen People 