Delivering desperately needed water to families in the besieged Gaza Strip has become a life-threatening mission, with Israeli attacks damaging key water infrastructure and forcing aid workers onto dangerous routes where two UNICEF truck drivers were killed earlier this year.
The UNICEF truck drivers were killed in April as they attempted to deliver water to the Mansoura water filling station in northern Gaza. The deliveries are necessary because pipelines that could safely be used to transport the water have been destroyed by Israel.
The Israeli attacks threaten the survival of families.
"On the ground, the situation is pretty horrific,” Jonathan Veitch, head of UNICEF for the Palestinian territories, told the Canadian Press during a recent interview in Ottawa while he was visiting Canada.
Displaced Palestinians collect water from the Ita charitable water station, amid ongoing water shortages and limited access to water sources, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, 13 July 2026. (EPA File Photo)
