Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Wednesday that Israel is effectively blocking access to water in the Gaza Strip by cutting off electricity and fuel, calling for humanitarian aid to be allowed to pass to Palestinians to avoid further loss of life.

The statement quoted Paula Navarro, the organization's water and sanitation coordinator in Gaza, as saying: "With new attacks resulting in hundreds of deaths in just a few days, Israeli forces continue to deprive Gaza's residents of water by cutting off electricity and preventing the entry of fuel."

She added that the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is exacerbated by the "water crisis," with many forced to drink unfit water, while others lack it altogether.

For her part, Chiara Lodi, the organization's medical team coordinator in Gaza, pointed out that the skin diseases children are suffering from are "a direct result of the destruction of Gaza and the Israeli blockade imposed on it."

She continued: "Our staff is treating an increasing number of children suffering from skin diseases such as scabies, which causes great suffering and, in severe cases, leads to scratching the skin until it bleeds."

Lodi attributed the spread of scabies among Palestinian children to their "inability to bathe."

Doctors Without Borders noted that "jaundice, diarrhea, and scabies" are among the most common conditions treated by its teams in Khan Yunis (south), resulting from the lack of safe water supplies.

The organization warned that the depletion of fuel in the Gaza Strip would cause "the complete collapse of the remaining water system, cutting off people's access to water."

The occupation authorities continue to prevent the entry of fuel as part of their tightened siege and closure of crossings to humanitarian, relief, medical, and goods since March 2.

The organization renewed its call for Israel to lift its "inhumane blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and comply with international humanitarian law and its duties as an occupying power."

It called for "an immediate restoration of the truce and the passage of electricity and humanitarian aid to Gaza, including fuel and water supplies, to avoid further loss of life."

On March 9, Israeli Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen decided to "immediately" halt electricity supplies to Gaza. Israel had been supplying limited power to the Gaza Strip to operate the water station in the central Gaza Strip.

In a preliminary toll, the number of martyrs and wounded since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7th has risen to 50,144 martyrs and 113,704 wounded.

Since the occupation resumed its war of extermination on March 18, more than 750 civilians have been killed and nearly 1,400 others injured, most of them children and women, amidst the occupation's warplanes, drones, and artillery shelling of homes, facilities, hospitals, displaced persons' tents, vehicles, and civilian gatherings.