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Middle East conflict

UNICEF delivers over 44,000 bottles of drinking water to Gaza through Rafah crossing

This is enough for 22 thousand people for one day

UNITED NATIONS, October 21. /TASS/. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has delivered more than 44,000 bottles of drinking water through the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt, according to the UNICEF statement published on its website.

"Over 44,000 bottles of drinking water supplied by UNICEF - just enough for 22,000 people for 1 day - were driven through the Rafah Crossing today," the statement said, pointing out that "the nearly 2.3 million residents in Gaza are now surviving on 3 liters of water per person per day."

"With one million children in Gaza now facing a critical protection and humanitarian crisis, the delivery of water is a matter of life or death. Every minute counts," the statement reads citing UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Unless we can provide humanitarian supplies consistently, we face the real threat of life-threatening disease outbreaks."

Earlier, UNICEF informed that hundreds of children have been killed and more than 300,000 children have been forced to flee their homes since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated again on October 7.

On Saturday, 20 trucks drove through the Rafah border crossing carrying humanitarian aid, which had been delivered by the international community to the airport of the Egyptian city of El-Arish in the northern Sinai Peninsula over the past few days. The Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations are supervising the cargo transportation. According to the CNN, the Rafah crossing is planned to be opened for next aid deliveries to the enclave’s residents on Monday, October 23.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

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Middle East conflict

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