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Israel to increase water delivery to Gaza

Overuse of an aquifer is responsible for a lack of water in Gaza.

By Ed Adamczyk
Palestinians fill plastic bottles at a water station in Gaza. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI
1 of 3 | Palestinians fill plastic bottles at a water station in Gaza. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

GAZA CITY, Gaza, March 4 (UPI) -- The amount of drinkable water entering Gaza from Israel will double in an attempt to avert a crisis, an Israeli army official announced.

Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, said the water supply would increase from 5 million cubic meters (1.3 billion U.S. gallons) to 10 million (2.6 billion U.S. gallons), after a meeting of the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee.

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The committee was created as part of the 1995 Oslo Accords to oversee water and sewage treatment in the Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority pays Israel 12 million Israeli shekels ($3 million) for the water.

Although Israel and Gaza fought a 50-day war in 2014, Israel remains responsible for most of the utilities, including water supply, in the heavily Palestinian territory of nearly 2 million people. Gaza also relies on a coastal aquifer, but the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem reported most of that water is non-drinkable because of overuse. Mordechai commented that he hoped "Hamas [the government in Gaza] does not steal water from civilians as it steals construction material for rebuilding homes in the [Gaza] Strip."

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