Gaza Herald _While water trucks and humanitarian assistance continue to serve overcrowded displacement centers in Gaza City, communities living near the so-called “Yellow Line” appear to have been largely overlooked by relief efforts.
Residents in these areas face not only the constant threat of Israeli shelling and gunfire, but also an ongoing struggle to obtain clean drinking water, healthcare, and food, amid growing complaints over the absence of basic services. Across communities stretching from northern to southern Gaza, thousands of families live in partially destroyed homes or fragile tents, where even accessing essential services has become a dangerous daily ordeal.
On the western edge of the Shujaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, dozens of residents gather each day hoping a water tanker will arrive—though there is no guarantee it will. For many, safe drinking water is no longer a basic necessity but a scarce commodity competed over by hundreds of families.
Speaking to Felesteen newspaper, Mohammed Al-Arbeer said the area receives only a single tanker of fresh drinking water, which falls far short of meeting residents’ needs. As a result, many people wait for hours, only to return home without enough water.
Al-Arbeer added that the water shortage is only one aspect of a broader humanitarian crisis, noting that the area is also without adequate healthcare services.
He recalled an Israeli strike that wounded several residents, including children, forcing them to transport the injured to Al-Shifa Medical Complex and Al-Ahli Arab Hospital for emergency treatment.
Educational conditions are equally difficult. Children walk long distances every day to reach a temporary learning center established inside tents, traveling through streets lined with rubble and areas exposed to Israeli shelling and gunfire.
This reality extends across the “Yellow Line,” where Israeli forces maintain control through sustained military firepower over nearly 70 percent of the Gaza Strip’s 365-square-kilometer territory.
Another resident, Wael Safi, told Felesteen that families are living amid severe shortages of water and medical services despite dozens of households remaining in the area.
He said children and young people walk long distances to collect drinking water, while sick and wounded residents are often forced to travel on foot to reach the nearest medical clinic.
Safi rejected the justification offered by some humanitarian organizations that security concerns prevent them from reaching the area. He said aid operations remain concentrated in western Gaza City, where community kitchens are operating, while neighborhoods near the border receive little or no comparable assistance despite their growing humanitarian needs.
He added that many displaced families have relied on water wells since the beginning of the war because of the limited water supply, with residents themselves paying the cost of operating generators needed to pump water.
Drinking water does not reach the community directly, forcing residents to walk hundreds of meters to reach water trucks that avoid entering the area because of fears of Israeli attacks.
Safi also said the absence of electricity has made daily life even more difficult, as residents must travel long distances simply to charge their mobile phones, while the area is left in complete darkness after nightfall.
Relief workers say the limited humanitarian response in communities near the “Yellow Line” stems from several factors, foremost among them security concerns. Humanitarian organizations prioritize the safety of their staff and volunteers, leading many to avoid operating in areas considered highly dangerous.
They also note that delivering aid to displacement sites near the “Yellow Line” requires significantly higher logistical costs, particularly for water distribution. Difficult access and the reluctance of some transportation companies to operate near the border—unless paid substantially higher fees—have further complicated relief efforts.
