Gaza residents supplied water with funding from Maldives Zakat House

The Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has distributed water to residents of Gaza with funding from the Maldives Zakat House, with most of the strip’s water facilities damaged under heavy Israeli bombardment, forcing the population to resort to contaminated sources, leading to an outbreak of lethal diseases, especially among children.

On November 27, the Maldives Zakat House signed an agreement with the QRCS to donate USD 100,000 towards a project to supply water to Gaza.

According to QRCS, the project will see the distribution of 50,000 water boxes to 60,000 people in need.

QRCS distributed 6,000 bottled water boxes under the project to patients at the Al-Shifa Hospital and the Al-Hayat Hospital on December 16.

With funding from @ZakatHouseMv , Water Supply project launched in Gaza by #QRCS field personnel, with 6,000 bottled water boxes distributed to injuries & patients at Al-Shifa and Al-Hayat Hospitals, out of 50,000 water boxes to be distributed to 60,000 underserved people. pic.twitter.com/NSRHJSCboQ

— Qatar Red Crescent | الهلال الأحمر القطري (@QRCS) December 16, 2024

According to the Maldives Islamic Ministry, the donation marked the first time for zakat funds to be used to fund a project outside of the Maldives.

The ministry said that the decision was made following instructions by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to increase efforts to aid Palestinians.

Israel’s current war on Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023, has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, many of them women and children. It has also reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble, displaced the vast majority of residents, and resulted in widespread malnutrition.

Israel has been accused of systematically weaponizing water against Palestinians in Gaza, showing disregard for human life and international law.

In a report released last week, the Human Rights Watch said its investigation into Israeli attacks on water supply infrastructure in Gaza over the course of its 14-month war there found that Israeli forces have acted deliberately to cut the availability of clean water, which the group said amounts to an act of genocide extermination as a crime against humanity.

The group accused Israeli forces of deliberate actions intended to cut the availability of clean water so drastically that the population has been forced to resort to contaminated sources, leading to the outbreak of lethal diseases, especially among children.

It said that Israel’s actions have killed many thousands of Palestinians and constitute an act of genocide.

The 184-page report, Extermination and Acts of Genocide, came after an Amnesty International report earlier in December concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.

The donation from the Maldives Zakat House came after Maldives donated MVR 19 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) following a nationwide telethon in June to raise funds for Palestinians