GAZA'S REALITIES
Water Water Everywhere…
Gaza’s Daily Hunt for Water
JEMBY August 9, 2026
Water, water, water. Everywhere I turn lately, all I can see and hear are people talking about water. There’s not enough. People are parched. People are dehydrated. People are dying because of lack of water.
The word “water” is literally on everyone’s lips, ironically except on the lips of Palestinians.
Why is that, do you think? Is it because Palestinian lives have always been considered exceptions to everyone else’s? Does being Palestinian somehow exempt you from the need for daily water? Are the “resilient” Palestinian people somehow possessed with magical powers and strength that allow them to survive with the bare minimum of access to water?
Well, I hate to burst your bubble. But Palestinians are human — just like me and you. They generally come with two kidneys, two lungs, a liver, a heart, and all the other major organs you and I have.
They come with skin that gets burnt. Skin that gets bitten by insects. Skin that gets dry and gets rashes. Skin that needs water to hydrate and soothe, especially in these soaring temperature months of summer.
Let me take you on a little journey.
How did your day start today? What’s the first thing you did when you woke up?
Did you go to the toilet?
Did you brush your teeth?
Did you wash your face and hands?
Did you take a shower?
Did you fill the kettle and make yourself a cup of tea or coffee?
Maybe you decided to boil an egg or two for breakfast?
Maybe that little pot of herbs on your windowsill in the kitchen needed a bit of watering?
Maybe you decided to do a laundry wash today?
Maybe you were lazy and didn’t wash up the dishes last night, so you put on the dishwasher or washed them in the sink?
Whatever you did, I want you to walk yourself back through every action and see how many involved water.
Every single one of those normal, small actions demands water, and most of us just really take it for granted. But imagine if it was all suddenly taken away.
Your toilet is now backed up with waste that has nowhere to go.
Your mouth is dry and smells foul because you can’t brush your teeth.
You can’t wash your face or hands, and you’ve just used the toilet.
Shower? What shower?
Kettle? What kettle? Even if you had enough water to fill a kettle, you have no way of heating it anyway.
Boil an egg? You haven’t been able to afford eggs for months, so that’s off your list anyway.
The little herb pot you used to have is no longer there because you don’t have a windowsill in your fabric shelter.
Laundry wash? The only other set of clothes you have will just have to air out in the sun. You can’t waste water on washing clothes.
And don’t get me started on the dishes. You didn’t eat last night because there was no food, and therefore there are no dishes to wash anyway. First win of the day...
