Child wounded in Israeli air strike image:37644:1::0

Even though only one Israeli has been killed in nine months of rocket attacks launched by Hamas from inside Gaza the Israelis have used the attacks to justify cutting off the power to Gaza's civilian population, causing what the UN and other human rights organizations term a "humanitarian crisis."

Now the Gaza Coastal Municipality Water Utility has announced on the radio and in newspapers that the Israeli blockade has cut off supplies of chlorine needed to purify the civilian water supply leaving more than one third of the beleaguered territory's water untreated. Officials of the Utility have announced that there have been no chlorine deliveries since January 21.

Maher Najjar, deputy director of the utility announced that 52 of the 140 wells used to supply fresh drinking water were out of chlorine and said:
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"I expect by the week's end all the wells will run dry of chlorine,"

The Palestinians have appealed to the international community for help in preventing the outbreak of disease.

Baby injured by Israeli rocket attack
The Israeli military claims that the Palestinians did not make a request for the desperately needed chlorine until Wednesday and that they are now urgently trying to arrange a shipment into Gaza. In the meantime they have advised the Palestinians to boil their water to kill deadly germs. However the Palestinians suffer from a shortage of fuel caused by the Israeli blockade.

Israel has imposed sanctions on Gaza since last June, claiming that these are retaliation for rocket attacks launched by the militant Islamic organization Hamas despite the fact that there have been no casualties from these attacks until lase Wednesday when an Israeli student was killed by a rocked landing on a college just out Gaza. The attack had been in retaliation for an Israeli air strike that had left seven Palestinians, including two civilians dead.

Israeli sanctions, which have drawn criticism from many nations including a new one from Britain last Sunday have allowed little more than basic humanitarian goods to enter the territory, causing civilian hardship, widespread childhood malnutrition, and economic distress. Those most vulnerable to disease from untreated water are the children.

Baby injured in Israeli air strike.