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Sheikh Shakhbout bin Nahyan, Minister of State, on Sunday inaugurated the expanded version of its second desalination plant on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border, which will supply 120,000 gallons of drinkable water to Gazans.
Through pipes that extend from the Mediterranean Sea to the plant, the water is then filtered and sent across the border underground where Gazans can use them.
“Drinking water contains 100 to 800 parts per million but the sea gives us around 25,000 parts per million. So, the clean water can now be used for drinking and other uses,” the desalination plant’s project manager Mohammad Al Rashidi told media in Rafah.
There used to be six containers, he said, but there are now 12, double the capacity.
As part of the UAE’s Gallant Knight 3 humanitarian operation to supply aid to Gaza, the UAE has also opened a warehouse in Al Arish, near Rafah, where it is stockpiling aid including nappies, blankets, canned foods, and electric heaters.
These supplies will enter Gaza as soon as border authorities permit.
The UAE has so far supplied more than 9,296 tonnes of aid delivered by 121 lorries and 129 cargo planes.
On the way to Rafah, media witnessed dozens of lorries carrying aid in boxes set to cross the border.
Over the fence separating Gaza and Egypt, plumes of grey smoke were seen as Israel bombarded the southern part of the Strip on Sunday, bringing the total number of people killed since the October 7 war began to 21,822 with 56,541 wounded.
At least 9,000 children have been killed so far in the war and more than 7,000 people are still missing, while 1.9 million out of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.2 million have been displaced.
Gazan blogger Noureddin Radwan, 28, who was at the desalination plant’s inauguration felt pain at the thought that his family, residing in Rafah, were so close but so out of reach.
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