Philippines’ water woes

ABOUT 6.8 million people have been affected by a water shortage in and around the Philippine capital, with long lines forming for rationed water and businesses and some hospitals struggling to cope after faucets ran dry.

Water supplies will be cut for at least six hours a day for more than a million households until the rainy season fills dams and reservoirs in May or June, a spokesman for Manila Water Co. Inc., Jeric Sevilla, said on Thursday.

A spike in demand, reduced dam levels and El Nino conditions have been blamed. THE Israeli military carried out reprisal strikes against Hamas in Gaza early yesterday, hours after rockets were fired from the Palestinian enclave, sources said.

Around 30 strikes targeted positions held by the military wing of Hamas, which governs Gaza, and their ally Islamic Jihad, causing significant damage, a Gazan security source said.

No injuries or deaths had been reported.

“We have just started striking terror sites in Gaza,” the Israel Defence Forces tweeted yesterday morning.

Almost daily exchanges between Israel and the Palestinian territory have threatened a wider escalation in hostilities over the past few weeks, as elections in Tel Aviv loom.

Friday’s strikes come hours after the Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Gaza toward the greater Tel Aviv district on Thursday evening.

On Thursday night, the Israeli foreign ministry posted a video appearing to show missiles climbing into the sky above high-rise buildings as sirens wail in the background.

“Two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory,” an army statement said. “The alert and warning systems operated as required. No interceptions were made by aerial defence systems. No damage or injuries were reported.”

Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai told local television one of the Gaza rockets “apparently fell into the sea, the other hit somewhere but not in Tel Aviv”.

Prime Minister Benjamin