The quiet resumption of operations at a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip last month marked a small but significant step toward restoring public services in the Palestinian territory ravaged by more than 14 months of Israel’s offensive, AFP reports.

The process of restarting the plant in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, involved both Israeli and Palestinian stakeholders who could have a hand in the territory’s future, especially amid renewed hopes for a ceasefire in recent days.

While its reopening has had a limited tangible impact so far, diplomats close to the project suggest it could offer a tentative roadmap for Gaza’s post-conflict administration.

Since being reconnected to Israel’s electricity grid, the station has been producing approximately 16,000 cubic metres of water per day, according to Unicef. It serves more than 600,000 Gaza residents through tankers or the networks of Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis governorates in central and southern Gaza, respectively.

“Its production capacity remains limited in the face of immense needs,” an official within the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA) told AFP.

The plant is one of three such seawater processing facilities in the Gaza Strip, which before the offensive met around 15 per cent of the 2.4 million residents’ needs.

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