Gaza Municipality has sounded an urgent alarm: over 1.2 million people are now at risk of acute dehydration as water supplies dry up under Israel’s intensifying siege and bombardment.

In a statement issued Monday, municipal authorities revealed that the last remaining pumps from the Mikrot supply have been completely shut down due to a fuel crisis, leaving vast parts of Gaza without access to safe water. The few wells still operational meet barely 12% of the Strip’s daily needs, with residents receiving under 5 litres of water per day, some as little as 2 in overcrowded displacement centres.

Israel’s targeting of infrastructure has devastated Gaza’s water network. At least 63 wells, four main reservoirs, and more than 115 kilometres of piping have been destroyed. The main desalination plant in the north has also been forced to shut down, leaving large urban areas without a single functioning water source.

With temperatures rising and sanitation systems collapsing, the health risks are growing by the hour. The municipality described the situation as catastrophic, warning of disease outbreaks and mass suffering if water supplies are not restored immediately.

Despite the impossible conditions, Gaza’s civil teams continue working to restore what little remains. But the message is clear: without urgent international intervention, the Strip faces a full-scale water disaster, and another front in an already unbearable war on life.