A Palestinian official said on Wednesday that 800,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip lack water due to the Israeli air and ground offensive on the enclave.

Monzer Shublaq, chief of the Gaza Strip water authorities, told reporters that 800,000 Palestinians out of the total Gaza Strip population, which stands at about 1.5 million, "are without water now."

"There are two reasons that led to the water crisis. One is that the Israeli army tanks destroyed the major water pipes that supply large areas in the Gaza Strip," said Shublaq.

The other reason is that Israel has been closing down all its border crossings with the Gaza Strip and it has not allowed fuels into the enclave for about three weeks, leaving the strip no fuel to operate most of its water pumps, he added.

"Forty percent of the Gaza Strip water sources are not working," said Shublaq, adding that "we were producing on a daily basis 220,000 cubic meters of water; now we only pump 100,000 cubic meters everyday," said Shublaq.

The Israeli army has been carrying out a large-scale military air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip since December 27 of 2008, leaving more than 990 people killed and 4,500 wounded.

Human rights organizations and UN reports said more than 30,000 people are homeless after their homes were destroyed, adding that "they are gathering in 36 schools all over the Gaza Strip."

"The war on the Gaza Strip has left a very deteriorated humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," said the United Nations for Relief and Work Agency in the Far East (UNRWA) spokesman in Gaza Adnan Abu Hasna, adding "if the war keeps on, more humanitarian crises are expected to emerge."

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2009)