(25 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip – 25 April 2024
1. Various of children near their families’ tents using hose to spray themselves with water to help them deal with the high temperatures
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amani Saleh, woman displaced from Gaza City:
"I take my children out then put them in a bucket and pour cold water over them because of the heat that we are experiencing. We cannot bear it (the heat) because the tent is made from plastic. When we were in our homes, inside our walls with a fan on, we used to feel hot and feel emotionally strained because of the heat. So imagine a tent where the floor is all sand and mosquitoes come in. We are still at the start of the summer, we haven’t felt the real heat of July and August."
3. Various of tents used as shelters by displaced people
4. Various of people gathering to fill containers with water
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Arafat Arafat, man from Gaza City:
"You can see how the weather is very, very, very hot today, it is unbearable. Since the morning I have been moving around to find water, going from one side to another and from one place to another. I went to U.N. schools and didn’t find anything. Then I went to private schools and didn’t find anything (inaudible). There is also no desalinated water. I went around and around, then came and stood here. I have been looking for water since 7 a.m."
6. Various of people filling containers with water
7. Various of people waiting to get water
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Um Narmeen Areef, woman from Gaza City,
"You can see how much we are suffering because of the water. Every day we come and go, searching. We have been standing in the sun for two hours. The sun has burnt us. We are suffering to get water, food and drinking water. We are suffering. We want a solution. We want a solution, to go back to our homes, to relax and feel stable."
9. Various of people filling their containers with water
10. Various of people carrying their containers as they wait to fill them
STORYLINE:
Hot weather coupled with severe water shortages in the war-torn Gaza Strip are making life harsh for Palestinians who have been displaced by the Israel-Hamas war that started in October.
Temperatures in the Gaza Strip on Thursday reached 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), well above the normal weather for this time of the year.
To cope with the heat, children in Deir al-Balah spray themselves with water to cool their bodies.
"I take my children out then put them in a bucket and pour cold water over them because of the heat that we are experiencing. We cannot bear it," said Amani Saleh, a woman displaced from Gaza City.
People stand in line to fill buckets of water to use in the tents, where they have been staying for months.
"You can see how much we are suffering because of the water. Every day we come and go, searching. We have been standing in the sun for two hours. The sun has burnt us," said Um Narmeen Areef, a woman from Gaza City.
The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages.
Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 34,000 people, according to health officials in Gaza.
Food has been scarce as the flow of aid into Gaza dropped sharply since the war started.
Water has also been scarce because of the widespread damage.
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