The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) begun the massive effort of clearing rubble in the Gaza Strip and to deliver safe drinking water, as a fragile ceasefire appeared to hold.

Since October 2023, the war has destroyed or damaged over 80% of all structures in Gaza, the UN said.

This year, the UNDP said it cleaned and repurposed over 81,000 tonnes of rubble, allowing access to critical access routes for aid, priority roads, and public facilities.

In addition, UNDP is amping up its delivery of safe drinking water and supporting the management of solid waste in the Strip.

Over the two years since Israel launched its offensive, Gaza’s water access has been progressively strained.

Limits on fuel imports and electricity have hampered the operation of desalination plants while infrastructure bottlenecks and pipeline damage choked delivery to a dribble.

Gaza’s aquifers became polluted by sewage and the wreckage of bombed buildings.

Wells are mostly inaccessible or destroyed, aid groups and the local utility say.

Meanwhile, the water crisis has helped fuel the rampant spread of disease.

Before the war, the coastal enclave’s more than 2 million residents got their water from a patchwork of sources.

Some was piped in by Mekorot, Israel’s national water utility.

Some came from desalination plants.

Some was pulled from high-saline wells, and some imported in bottles.

Every source has since been jeopardized.

Efforts to ease the water shortage, however, are in motion.

With support from the World Bank, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, and in partnership with the Palestinian Water Authority, over 141,000 m³ of water have been delivered since the beginning of the war, the UN reported.