ISRAEL’S assault on Gaza has destroyed 1,675 kilometres of water and sanitation networks over the past 15 months, Oxfam said today.

The charity found that in the North Gaza and Rafah governorates, people have access to less than 7 per cent of water they could expect before the escalation. 

Oxfam says this amounts to just 5.7 litres a day per person, barely enough for a single toilet flush. 

Oxfam’s humanitarian co-ordinator in Gaza, Clemence Lagouardat, said: “Now that the bombs have stopped, we have only just begun to grasp the sheer scale of destruction to Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure. 

“Most vital water and sanitation networks have been entirely lost or paralysed, which is creating catastrophic hygiene and health conditions.”

In the North Gaza governorate, almost all water wells have been destroyed by the Israeli military.

In Rafah, more than 90 per cent of water wells and reservoirs were partially or completely damaged and water production is less than 5 per cent of its pre-conflict capacity.

Across Gaza, more 80 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been partially or entirely destroyed.

Oxfam warned that the lack of safe water and untreated sewage have triggered an explosion of disease, and that 2,000 tonnes of waste has piled up in the streets every day.

Meanwhile, 46,000 cases of infectious diseases are being reported each week.

The charity said its own 85-tonne shipment of water pipes, fittings and water tanks have been held for more than six months by Israeli authorities, who only approved the shipment last week. 

Ms Lagouardat added: “Hundreds of thousands of displaced people across the Gaza Strip have had to resort to digging makeshift cesspits next to their tents. 

“The ceasefire must hold, and fuel and aid must flow so that Palestinians can rebuild their lives.”