Aisha Khudair woke in the middle of the night expecting rain. Instead, she found sewage flooding her tent. Her blankets were soaked. Her belongings were ruined. Her child cried through the night, asking for a dry place to sleep and a clean blanket.
“My daughter keeps crying at night, telling me: I want a clean mattress to sleep on, I want a clean blanket, mom", Aisha tells me.
In Gaza today, even the most basic conditions of life have collapsed into scenes like this.
Her story is not an exception. It reflects a wider collapse of infrastructure across the Gaza Strip, where the systems that once sustained daily life have been systematically destroyed.
Infrastructure: From Lifeline to Collapse
Infrastructure is not just a background service. It is the foundation of survival. Water systems prevent disease. Roads allow ambulances to reach the wounded. Electricity powers hospitals. Sanitation prevents epidemics. A study of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami found that community infrastructure, including community centers and public facilities, played a key role in significantly reducing mortality and often proved more effective than traditional hard infrastructure investments.
In Gaza, this entire system has broken down.
Israeli officials have openly described policies that align with this destruction. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a full siege, including cutting electricity and fuel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army is “destroying more and more homes” and that residents will have nowhere to return. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that “Gaza will be completely destroyed,” while Energy Minister Eli Cohen called for turning Gaza City into “a city of ruin.”
These statements reflect what is unfolding on the ground, where essential systems have been dismantled layer by layer.
First Layer: Roads That No Longer Connect Life
The first collapse came through roads.
Once, ambulances could move quickly through Gaza’s streets. Now, Civil Defense crews describe routes that are blocked, destroyed, or unrecognizable. Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Civil Defense, told Quds News Network (QNN) that vehicles break down during missions due to poor conditions and that crews are often forced to abandon them and continue on foot.
What once took minutes now takes far longer, if it is possible at all. The delay has a direct consequence: wounded people die before rescue teams can reach them.
Thousands, according to Civil Defense, have lost their lives in this way.
Second Layer: Water, Electricity, and Basic Systems Shut Down
The next collapse came through essential utilities.
Water networks and sewage systems were heavily damaged. According to Gaza Municipality, more than 212,000 meters of sewage networks and 150,000 meters of water lines were destroyed. Electricity networks and communication systems also suffered major damage.
Drinking water is now often stored in plastic jerrycans that have been used for years, many of them contaminated by algae, dust, and smoke. Clean water is no longer guaranteed.
The consequences extend beyond inconvenience. Wastewater now floods streets and camps, creating conditions where disease spreads rapidly.
Third Layer: Hospitals, Schools, and Economic Life
Hospitals, schools, and thousands of economic facilities have also been damaged or destroyed.
More than 11,000 economic, tourism, and commercial sites were affected, worsening already collapsing living conditions.
According to the World Bank, infrastructure damage reached about $18.5 billion in the first four months of the war, while other estimates place total losses above $25 billion. Experts say reconstruction could take more than a decade, even under ideal conditions.
Fourth Layer: A City Stripped of Its Systems
The scale becomes clearer in Gaza Municipality data.
More than 830 kilometers of roads were destroyed. Alongside this, 149,000 meters of lighting networks, 15,000 meters of fiber optics, 72 water wells, four central water tanks, and eight sewage pumping stations were damaged or destroyed.
These are not isolated figures. They represent the complete breakdown of how a city functions.
Without roads, movement stops. Without water, health collapses. Without sewage systems, disease spreads.
Life Inside the Collapse: Health and Survival
Inside displacement camps, the impact becomes immediate and visible.
Dr. Nader (who spoke under anonymity for fear of Israeli forces), told QNN that around 80 to 90 percent of camps lack real infrastructure. Families rely on primitive solutions to survive. Many cannot even manage these basic coping methods.
Water contamination is widespread. People continue to use plastic jerrycans despite contamination and exposure to dust and waste.
The health impact is severe. Skin diseases, intestinal infections, and hepatitis A are spreading. Malnutrition and polluted water weaken immunity. Even minor injuries now take months to heal instead of days.
"recovery rates from wounds and diseases have deteriorated significantly," he said. "While some minor injuries used to take 2 to 5 days to heal, they now take months."
Jabalia: A Place Where Infrastructure Has Disappeared
In Jabalia camp, the destruction reached extreme levels.
Mayor Mazen Al-Najjar told QNN that about 90 percent of buildings and roads were destroyed. Hospitals and health facilities were completely destroyed.
Dr. Nader described medical care there as accessible only to those who can physically reach it. Roads that once connected people to hospitals have become barriers instead.
The Final Result: Daily Life Without Safety or Dignity
For families like Aisha Khudair’s, the consequences are constant.
After sewage flooded her tent, she lost clean water, clean food, and safe shelter. Her daughter now cries at night, asking for basic comfort that no longer exists.
What remains is a daily struggle shaped by collapsing systems; roads that no longer bring help, water that is no longer clean, and camps that no longer protect life.
In Gaza, infrastructure has not only been destroyed. It has taken with it the basic conditions that make life possible.
