‘Not a thousand sentences could describe our feelings’: bringing clean water to people in Gaza

At his school in central Gaza, Nael and his classmates line up at the sink to wash their hands before drinking clean water from a series of communal taps. It is something many of them could not have imagined ever happening again. Devastating conflict in Gaza meant the school’s water filtration system had been out of service for more than two years, leaving the 1,400 pupils without clean water. 

But after Concern’s partner in Gaza, CESVI, repaired the system, with technical support from Concern and funding from the Disasters Emergency Committee, vital access to drinking water has been restored for Nael and his schoolmates.

He explains how things have changed: “This is something good. Instead of bringing water from home, we drink it here whenever we want.”

Nabeel*, the school’s educational programme lead, watches this new routine with a sense of relief: “With this maintenance of our water system, we are now self-sufficient."

"The students can go and drink from it at any time," he says. "Some students bring a water bottle, fill it and take it home with them because they may not have clean water at home.”

In a place where clean water is often unavailable, Concern's support makes life much safer for the students and wider community. 

More than 90% of households in Gaza are water insecure. Damaged or destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure, severe fuel shortages to operate desalination plants and restricted access to aid have forced people to rely on contaminated, salty water for survival and caused a surge in waterborne diseases.

The escalating conflict in the wider region has deepened the crisis, disrupting already fragile supply chains and making it even harder for families to access essentials like clean water.

14-year-old Hadeel* remembers what school was like without one of life’s necessities: “All of us have faced difficulties with water. Many diseases spread in Gaza because of the water, like hepatitis, gastroenteritis, and skin rashes.”

Hadeel contracted hepatitis herself when her family were forced to rely on contaminated supplies.

“It spread widely when we were displaced. But we recovered, thank God.”

Today, she fills her bottle at school without having to worry about the consequences. 

“You feel safe when you drink from a safe source, not from an unknown source,” she explains.

Nadeem*, 11, also recalls how drinking contaminated water made her physically ill.

“We’re drinking clean water now, not like before. It was salty and wasn’t drinkable,” she says. “I was afraid to drink it. I vomited when I did.”

At a children’s hospital in Gaza City, access to safe, desalinated water has become the difference between life and death.

Majdi*, a maintenance engineer at the facility, describes the moment a new water filtration system was installed by Concern’s partner, CESVI, enabling kidney treatment to resume at the 150-bed hospital.

“Honestly, the water [filtration] system came at a peak time,” he says. “Without it, we could not open the kidney department.”

Dialysis treatment requires water with zero salinity, something impossible to achieve with the water delivered by trucks.

“The water must be fully desalinated before it can safely reach patients,” Majdi explains. “When the system came, we were able to operate the kidney department and help patients.”

Today, the unit produces 15,000 litres of clean water daily and enables 13 kidney dialysis machines to treat around 24 children under ten every day.

“Everyone was happy,” recalls Majdi, standing beside the filtration unit in the hospital’s utility plant room. 

“This is the only hospital in Gaza City that supports kidney patients. When we opened the department, many people were relieved because it was not available to them before and many could have died.”

“Not a thousand sentences could describe everyone’s feelings that day. We were happy that we were bringing life back to…people who could have died,” he says.

As well as installing water systems in schools and hospitals, CESVI is currently working in displacement camps across Gaza to provide access to clean water, toilets and waste management for people living in cramped and difficult conditions. Without clean water, toilets or sanitation infrastructure, disease spreads quickly and daily life becomes even harder.

Anwar*, a water, sanitation and hygiene supervisor with CESVI, sees the scale of the challenge every day. He and his colleagues have just completed constructing a galvanised steel structure protecting an electricity generator in another hospital in Gaza.

“Due to the general tragic situation Gaza residents are living through because of displacement,” he says, “there is a lack of basic services that affect people’s lives – water insecurity, food insecurity and health insecurity.”

Through its programmes, CESVI has been working over the past two years to restore essential services for people by providing mobile toilets, repairing damaged sanitation facilities, and supporting waste removal. It is now also supplying up to 100,000 litres of clean water every two days to communities in several displacement camps in Gaza. 

“By providing a safe water supply in shelters and health centres,” Anwar explains, “CESVI’s role is vital to reducing people’s suffering.”

For families in Gaza, safe water and sanitation remain a daily necessity, and continued support is critical to protecting health in the months ahead.

(* Names have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals)