Piling rubble, waste deepen health risks in Israel-besieged Gaza
Since the beginning of Israeli attacks on Oct. 7, nearly 80,000 tons of garbage and waste have accumulated due to the halt in the transfer of rubbish to the enclave’s main dumpsite
THE GROWING pile of rubble and garbage is deepening the already dire health situation in Israel-besieged Gaza as Palestinians struggle to survive amid incessant bombardment.
Due to the inability to provide municipal services, pollution crises caused by garbage and various waste have deepened in Gaza, which was already under a yearslong Israeli blockade and subjected to air, land and sea attacks since Oct. 7.
Bilal Abdullatif, a young resident of the Al-Shati, or Beach Camp, where refugees live in western Gaza City, said: “Continued ruthless attacks have disrupted municipal work and the streets and neighborhoods are overflowing with garbage.”
Abdullatif voiced concern about the worsening humanitarian and living conditions with the expansion of the environmental and health disaster in the city. “Waste has spread everywhere, the smell filling the air. It has also led to the spread of insects, rodents, and infectious diseases,” he told the Anadolu Agency (AA).
Siham al-Kita, 45, who was displaced from the al-Shujaya neighborhood in eastern Gaza, said the current situation could cause a major health and environmental disaster.
“Waste that was collected, transported, and sorted before the attacks is now just accumulating, threatening the Palestinians’ health with various diseases,” said al-Kita. “Waste causes physical and psychological health problems and many diseases.”
Al-Kita pointed out that due to the lack of medicine and the accumulation of waste around schools, young children have contracted intestinal and skin diseases, as he urged an urgent solution to the waste crisis.
Municipality spokesperson Husni Muhenna described Gaza City as a “disaster.”
Muhenna noted that since the beginning of the Israeli attacks, nearly 80,000 tons of garbage and waste have accumulated due to the halt in the transfer of garbage to the main waste storage area located on the eastern border of the city.
He added that the depletion of fuel needed for vehicles and trucks used to collect waste, along with the destruction of the vehicles in recent Israeli attacks, has caused the waste crises in the region.
Ahmet highlighted that since the destructive attacks began on Oct. 7, the Israeli army has destroyed 90 vehicles belonging to the municipality, bringing essential services to an almost complete halt.
Muhenna urged international institutions and organizations to provide machinery, equipment and fuel to continue providing essential services to residents by stopping the destructive attacks.
According to the U.N., the Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
Since its establishment in 1948, Israel, for the first time, has been accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, the highest judicial body of the United Nations, for its war against Gaza.
An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to provide and guarantee humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.