Salfit, occupied West Bank - Salfit sits atop an underground wealth of water, but the city's residents are forbidden from accessing it - and they are now in crisis, as Israel's national water company, Mekorot, has reduced water supply to the northern West Bank.
Since the start of the month, residents of Salfit have been receiving between 30 and 40 percent of their normal water allowance, said Saleh Afaneh, the head of the local water and wastewater department.
"On the first day of Ramadan, the water stopped for 24 hours, with no notice," Afaneh told Al Jazeera. "Since then, it has been coming in at less than half the capacity. We've done everything we can to try and make residents comfortable, but this is a crisis."
"He hasn't slept in two days," the city's mayor, Shaher Eshtieh, cut in. "We've never seen anything like this; we are in full crisis mode, working around the clock to help our people, but we are doing this on our own ... We've continuously reached out to the Palestinian government, the prime minister even, but they've been no help, and the Israelis are denying there is a problem."
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"Salfit is one of the most water-rich lands in the West Bank, but look at us - we can't access it," Eshtieh said. "Water is running under our ground while our taps run dry ... The people are getting angry. They won't continue to accept this."
