Be Lucy, Gaza, Palestine Amidst high piles of rubble and destruction, the mother of Five Fatin Abu Haloub, and her family, set up adjacent tents on the ruins of what their family’s house was extended.

Her husband Karam-Dal, 60, and Nasser, 65, have eight children, three children and five daughters, still live at home.

The house is now the small tent next to the dignity and Batten with a fire hole in the front and temporary “areas”.

There is the kitchen – there are no more than a few wooden panels for the convenience of cooking utensils and their small food supply – near the fire.

The bathroom is located to the side, and it is a hole lined with stone in the sand that acts as a toilet with more stones that make up a small bathing area, which is the entire section protected by the blankets covered with sticks that stick to it in a straight position on the ground.

Each place is water jugs and a bucket for water collection, which has become the daily struggle of the family.

The lack of severe water in the area, which became more clear since the displaced residents began to return to their homes when the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on January 19. Oxfam says Water supplies are 7 percent of pre -conflict levels, as Israel’s bombing of the destroyed infrastructure of the besieged water and sanitation.

Struggle for water

Faten, 28, and Cram, 39, begins her morning and she carries her buckets to fill the common pipes or any other source of water they can find.

Sometimes, they are joined by dignitary parents in transporting water and searching for water, something that no one in the traditional Gaza community has not heard, as the elders do not physically difficult tasks. The younger family members usually do them.

However, the war raised all agreements. With delicate stretch resources and survival at stake, everyone, including the elderly and young, compels to contribute.

Two honorable brothers who live in tents are close to the basic responsibility for water insurance, but when the water runs out, the entire family comes out in all directions to find more.

Throughout the Israeli War, which lasted for more than 15 months in Gaza, the Faten family remained in the north, and the severe bombing toured until they were forced to flee to West Gaza City in October when a large -scale Israeli attack began in the north and lasted for three months.

“We didn’t want to leave.” We were among the last people staying in the north. “

“But in the end, we could not stay. Once the ceasefire was announced, my husband returned immediately to see our house.

“I did not know the area or where our house stopped. The level of destruction was horrific.

“How can people live in a devastating place? There are no basics, infrastructure, no water, water, no electricity,” Faten says. “Sometimes, I think we were better at war.”

She says that the water truck sometimes comes around it, and every person in the family runs to try to get a place in the waiting list. But sometimes Abu Haloub does not get a spot, and sometimes water runs out.

Faten notes that no one provides fixed water supplies, and although they know that municipalities are unable to restore pipes in the destruction, they hope to help.

There is no relief on the horizon

Saying that water has become an obsession for the family lightly.

“We are accurately decreased. Faten laughing while her mother -in -law joins the conversation:” We are afraid to waste one drop. “

“I spend every day screaming in my brother -in -law and daughters about the use of water,” says Dal.

“I have set strict rules. More than one person can shower daily. Bathing is limited once every 10 days. Dal says while sitting in the fire, preparing tea and coffee for its interviews.

“We used to have 5,000 liters [1,320-gallon] Remember the water tanks at home and electricity to pump water.

“We haven’t lived like this before. I used to bathe my children daily or every day.”

“Children are copying and needing continuous care, but this is almost impossible now.”

He interrupts Karam as he washed his hands and faces. “My back is broken from carrying water.”

But they had to do so, Faten says, and he tells how modern storms provided an unexpected blessing.

“When the storm hit, the water trucks disappeared, so we started collecting rain water in all containers, buckets and basins that we can find.

Initially, the people around us were skeptical, but soon they continued our progress. We used rain water for everything. It became an ideal alternative. “

A dream of basic amenities

“The presence of running water from the tap seems to be an impossible dream. Faten says:” The right bath with running water is also a dream. “

“Pipes, hoses and taps with water – these are dreams for us now.”

When they lived in tents in West Gaza City before the ceasefire, they dreamed of small amenities, especially when they heard that mobile homes would be brought as part of the ceasefire.

“We were very happy. Faten says laughing.

“We were told that families with more than six members will receive them, and I thought about myself:” If I have two other children so that I can qualify for one of them! “

“But the reality was different,” she says. “No caravans, no services, no rebuilding, no water, no rubble removal. Nothing. We just went back to live in the destruction.”

“The war is not over. We still live. Its shadow has never left our lives.”