Background

The conflict over Gaza Strip goes back to early 1900's before Israel was even declared as a state. The conflict mainly began with hundreds of thousands of Jews emigrating to British Mandate Palestine which provoke the Arab community. The emigration intensified over the years as Nazism spread all over Europe, resulting in numerous death of Jewish population. With the civil unrest between the Jewish and Arab population, the British government handed the matter to UN which decided to partition Palestine into two different states- Jewish state which was later declared the state of Israel and was given 56.47% of the land and an Arab state – Palestine which received the remaining 43.53% of the land (BBC NEWS).

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Unhappy with the partition, the Arab states tried invading Israel but instead lost to the Israeli army. This attack led to series of Israeli attacks on the Arab states mainly the Palestine and vice-versa. The US tried to intervene by publishing a road map to end the violence in Palestinian state (BBC NEWS). This, however, lasted for only a short period of time as both the states attacked each other resulting in a heavy death toll. The fighting continued throughout the years deteriorating the condition of Gaza. One of the deadliest attacks came on 27 December 2008, when Israeli F-16 strike fighters launched a series of air strikes against targets in Gaza, a region that bordered Egypt on the southwest and Israel on South, East and North (CMWU 4). “The Israeli aircrafts started shelling Gaza Strip from the air, and the military Israeli boats were shelling Gaza Strip coast all over the shore line, afterwords the Israeli tanks started invading the Gaza Strip from different locations, the war has lasted for 22 days, then the cease fire has started on 18 January 2009” (CMWU 4).

Different places such as police stations, schools, hospitals, UN warehouses, a mosque, various Hamas government buildings, a science building in the Islamic University, and a U.N.-operated elementary school were badly hit (EL-KHODARY, and BRONNER).  The attacks had damaged most of the water supply and had ruptured most of the sewage pipes. Three new wells were totally destroyed in Jabalia and Beit Hanoun where those wells were supplying more than 50,000 inhabitants with water (CMWU 5). The waste water facilities such as Gaza Waste Water Treatment Plant (GWWTP) and North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment (NGEST) were also severely damaged in their basins and inlet pressure pipe lines. This created a major scarcity of the water in the region as the water that was available was polluted by the sewage that was accumulating in lakes and even water reservoirs. The damage was estimated to be around 6 million (CMWU 4).