A UN delegation led by Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov visited the Al-Furqan main desalination plant in Nuseirat and reviewed the operational challenges, most notably the need to bring in equipment and spare parts.
As part of ongoing monitoring of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and UN Humanitarian Coordinator, along with his accompanying delegation, conducted a field visit to the Al-Furqan main desalination plant in Nuseirat. They were received by CMWU Deputy Executive Director Eng. Omar Shatat, the Palestinian Water Authority represented by Projects Director Eng. Saadi Ali, and engineers from Nuseirat Municipality.
During the visit, Dr. Alakbarov and the accompanying delegation were briefed on the difficult operating conditions facing water and sanitation facilities in the Strip, and the main challenges to sustaining life-saving services. The UN delegation heard a detailed explanation of the operational obstacles facing the Utility's work, foremost among them the urgent need to allow the immediate entry of equipment, materials, and spare parts, as well as generators, their parts and consumables, and the acute shortage of oils needed to operate generators and machinery, in order to avert a cascading collapse of water and sanitation services.
This visit comes at a critical time, as Gaza's water infrastructure faces immense and unprecedented pressure. CMWU stressed that the continued restriction or blocking of these supplies and spare parts threatens the ability of desalination plants, wells, pumping stations, and water tankers to keep providing clean water to residents, especially given the difficult humanitarian conditions.
The delegation concluded its visit by inspecting the Al-Furqan desalination plant in Nuseirat and the main water reservoirs, to assess firsthand the scale of needs and the urgent requirement to support the water sector and secure the entry of essential materials and spare parts, in order to prevent a further humanitarian catastrophe related to the collapse of the water supply system in the Gaza Strip.
