Skip to main content

Israel provides Gaza with machines to extract water from air

An Israeli firm donated generators producing drinking water from air to the Gaza Strip, which faces an acute water shortage crisis, amid controversy about cooperation between the two sides.
A Palestinian workers fills up a truck transporting water from a freshwater plant that extracts water from wells and sells to people in the town of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza Strip, on November 18, 2020. - The densely-populated Gaza Strip has long lacked sufficient drinking water, but a new project helps ease the shortage with a solar-powered process to extract potable water straight from the air. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza Strip recently managed to take advantage of the latest technologies used to produce potable distilled water, thanks to Israeli cooperation.

In early January, Damour for Community Development, a nongovernmental organization based in Ramallah in the West Bank, brought into the besieged enclave two atmospheric water generators that turn air into water using solar power. The machines are produced by Watergen, an Israeli branch of a US company that obtained the patent for this device in 2015. Watergen paid for half the cost of the two devices, while three families residing in Europe donated the other half. The two machines cost about $61,000 each. 

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.