Channelling Life Amidst the Ruins of Gaza
The summer sun beats down mercilessly on the Northern Gaza area. Amidst the rubble of destroyed buildings and thick dust billowing in the air, rows of yellow and white plastic jerry cans appeared to snake long across the arid ground on Monday (27/7/2026). Hundreds of residents, from children wearing sandals or even barefoot to elderly people with faces lined with fatigue, stood in a seemingly endless queue. That afternoon, amidst the choking thirst and the misery of displacement, a glimmer of warm smiles shone through. They joyfully welcomed the clean water that has become the mainstay of life among the ruins of Gaza.
The clean water crisis in the Gaza Strip has reached a critical point. The destruction of public infrastructure, the collapse of piping networks, and the high cost of obtaining potable water have forced thousands of displaced families to live in uncertainty. In emergency camps erected against the ruins of buildings, water has become a struggle between life and death.
Under the scorching sun, the children of Gaza emerged as resilient figures. Without a single complaint, their small hands deftly lifted the filled jerry cans. The heavy weight of the water did not seem to hinder their steps. Pure, honest joy radiated from the children’s faces as the taps of the water tankers began to gush. A young boy with curly hair and a dusty face tightly hugged a worn jerry can filled with clean water, standing next to an aid marker. With innocence and sincerity, he offered a smile representing a thousand words of thanks.
Not far away, a young girl, beaming, greeted the humanitarian volunteers on duty. The resilience and spirit were not limited to the children. Elderly parents in the displacement camps were equally determined. With their remaining strength, they helped one another carry the water supplies towards their family tents, bringing home new hope to sustain life.
This clean water distribution was a humanitarian collaboration between Indonesia’s Daarut Tauhiid Peduli and the Nusantara Palestina Center (NPC) and Alsabil Welfare House (AWH) as local implementing partners in Gaza. The large-scale humanitarian operation was systematically designed to ensure clean water reaches the most isolated and severely affected areas. Since dawn, a fleet of water tankers had been mobilised from the Daarut Tauhiid Peduli water plant located on Al-Nafaq Street, Al-Wahaidy area, Gaza City. At this filling point, water was filtered to meet drinking standards before being loaded into gleaming stainless steel tankers.
On that day, a total of 22 tanker trucks, each with a capacity of 7 cubic metres, were deployed. A total of 154,000 litres of clean water was distributed from morning until evening, reaching approximately 30,000 beneficiaries across six strategic locations. This direct distribution of clean water significantly eased the economic and physical burden on displaced families. Beyond meeting basic drinking and sanitation needs, the aid allowed vulnerable families to allocate their very limited savings to other urgent necessities, such as food and medicine.
Kevin Akbar Pramadiva, Overseas Staff for DT Peduli, explained that the clean water distribution for the people of Gaza will be carried out for seven days each month, starting from that Monday. He noted that previously, water aid had been halted due to the ongoing attacks and conditions in Gaza. ‘Alhamdulillah, today we can resume distributing clean water from the DT Peduli water plant,’ he said while marking a calendar, indicating the first day of distribution from late July to early August 2026.
A local volunteer conveyed a heartfelt message amidst the distribution: ‘We give thanks to Allah, and we extend our gratitude to the donors for this support. Today we are distributing clean drinking water to our brothers and sisters, the displaced people in the camps of Northern Gaza. May Allah bless them, grant them the best rewards, and make this charity a helper for them on the Day of Judgement.’ The volunteer’s expression affirmed that every drop of water flowing in Gaza serves as a bridge of brotherhood and compassion from the people of Indonesia to the people of Palestine. The presence of clean water amidst the displacement camps brought not only physical refreshment and health but also a clarity of spirit and deep hope in the midst of profound adversity.