Israel's Blockade Causing 'Man-Made Drought' in Gaza: UNICEF

Israel's blockade of fuel entering Gaza is causing a "man-made drought," according to a warning from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The humanitarian organization estimated Friday that just 40% of Gaza's drinking water-production facilities remain functional. UNICEF said water‑production plants are running on dwindling reserves and warned they could collapse entirely without fuel.

"If the current more than 100-day blockade on fuel coming into Gaza does not end, children will begin to die of thirst. Diseases are already advancing, and chaos is tightening its grip," said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder at a press briefing Friday morning. "Gaza is facing what would amount to a man-made drought. Water systems are collapsing."

News of Gaza's collapsing water system comes on the heels of a UNICEF report Thursday that more than 5,000 children were diagnosed with acute malnutrition in May. It found that 112 children have been admitted per day for treatment since the beginning of 2025.

"Every one of these cases is preventable," said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder. "The food, water and nutrition treatments they desperately need are being blocked from reaching them."

The shortages of basic nutrition are the result of Israel's total blockade of fuel entering Gaza, which began in March.

On Wednesday, the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) volunteer Olga Cherevko observed that water pumps had stopped working at a site for displaced people "because there's no fuel." She said she expected "a shutdown of more facilities if no fuel enters."

The strain goes beyond pumps. As The Guardian reported Friday, "Most of Gaza's wastewater treatment plants, sewage systems, reservoirs and pipes have been destroyed. In March, Israel cut off power supplies to the main desalination plants—a vital source of water for Palestinians in Gaza."

Meanwhile, many of Gaza's hospitals have been crippled. As of June 11, only 37% of health facilities in Gaza remain functional, with many of them only partially operational.

"Without fuel, hospital generators stop, oxygen production stops, and life-support machines fail. Ambulances can't move. Incubators go dark," Elder said. "Denying fuel doesn’t just cut off supply—it cuts off survival."

Israel has continued to block shipments of desperately needed humanitarian aid. According to a June 10 report from the World Food Program, only enough food aid entered the strip since May 19 to give the bare minimum sustenance to 300,000 people—far smaller than Gaza's population of over 2 million.

Palestinians who have poured into aid sites operated by the U.S.-Israeli run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) have been massacred by IDF soldiers on a regular basis. On Friday, another 35 Palestinians were killed and several others wounded by Israeli fire while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor, according to sources at al-Awda Hospital who spoke with Al Jazeera.

In a speech before the U.N. Human Rights Council Tuesday, former High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described it as "the most ruthless, prolonged and widespread attack against the Palestinian people since 1948."

"The goal of the Israeli government," she said, "is abundantly clear: the destruction of life in Gaza."