Environmental damage in Gaza exceeds all predictions, experts say

A fact-finding report by the United Nations Development Program showed that 15 years ago, a 23-day war in Gaza resulted in the destruction of 17% of agricultural land, leaving little possibility of recovery.

Now, 70 days into the current war, experts warn that the environment of the Panhandle, one of the world’s most populous regions, is being irreversibly damaged.

Air pollution is increasing, waterborne diseases are on the rise, and wildlife is suffering.

In October this year, Human Rights Watch confirmed that Israel had released white phosphorus into Gaza and Lebanon. This chemical is known to have severe and fatal effects on humans, animals and the environment.

This highly toxic substance will burn through human flesh and reignite. It damages soil, contaminates water sources and poisons aquatic ecosystems, said Khaled El-Sayed, general manager and sustainability consultant at the Synerjies Center for International and Strategic Studies in Cairo.

Research shows that the intense heat generated during combustion [of bombs]El-Saeed said it could alter the physical structure and chemistry of the soil, reducing fertility and increasing the likelihood of soil-borne diseases.

Deep sewage pits around the house

The areas in which Gazans can escape these horrors are becoming smaller and smaller.

Khan Younis in southern Gaza is home to about 400,000 people resident before the war. Now, more than 1 million people cram into a little more than 21 square miles.

Local resident Ahmed Al-Astal, 58, was grateful his family was still alive after months of bombings that have so far killed more than 20,000 people.But deep puddle sewage The water surrounding his home sparked a new set of fears.

“My grandchildren’s lives are at risk,” Al-Astal said.

Ahmed, 4, and Fatima, 2, face the short-term threat of drowning in this sea of ​​polluted water and the long-term threat of chronic illness.

Astar said Ahmed suffered from a respiratory infection and his sister developed a rash all over her body, which doctors said was a symptom of a skin disease caused by such polluted conditions.

Israel has restricted fuel supplies into Gaza since Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, paralyzing most utilities and services. The Khan Younis municipality has been unable to pump sewage to a treatment station outside the city. sewage Without fuel to power the generators, the processing station cannot continue to operate.

Astar said Khan Younis was almost completely submerged in sewage. Astal, like thousands of others, was forced to move to an 8.5-square-kilometer patch of land on the coast of Gaza, Mawasi, said to be smaller than London’s Heathrow Airport.

Bombs dropped on Gaza contaminate soil and water

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said Israel dropped 25,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, the equivalent of two bombs. nuclear bomb. Experts say this seriously pollutes soil and air quality. They are also contaminating Gaza’s scarce water resources, which the United Nations reported were largely unfit for human consumption in 2020.

Nasreen Tamimi, head of the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority (PEQA), said the environmental impact of the war on Gaza was catastrophic, adding that a comprehensive environmental site assessment would show the extent of damage exceeded all predictions.

Dead bodies of martyrs under the rubble, hazardous medical waste, close up for treatment and treatment Desalination Plants are all to blame for the current crisis, Tamimi said, echoing United Nations warnings of a looming public health disaster. The World Health Organization reports sharp increases in acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, lice, scabies and other fast-spreading diseases.

Temporary landfills are overflowing

Omar Matar, director of the health and environment department of Khan Younis Municipality, said the influx of people into the city has caused Rubbish crisis.

More than a million people now live in the same space. The daily solid waste generation has increased from 150 tons to more than 450 tons. Matar said municipalities are unable to cope with such increased volumes due to limited resources, especially since trucks, excavators and fuel supplies are scarce.

He added that the city could only remove trash three times a week instead of once a day as it had done before the war.

Matar said that even after collection, the garbage was dumped in a makeshift landfill near a residential area west of Khan Younis, as Israel bombed the main garbage dump in the Fakari area east of Khan Younis earlier this month. landfill.

He said this poses environmental and health risks due to the stench, insectrodents and contaminants.

In addition, farmland growing perennial trees such as olives and citrus fruits or field crops such as vegetables has suffered widespread and unprecedented damage.

Lawfare, a nonprofit multimedia publication dedicated to providing nonpartisan analysis on legal and policy issues, said in a report released last month that legally proportionate collateral damage caused by the use of lethal force in civilian areas is simply unethical. , adding that IDF air strikes could be considered a war crime.

Ahmed Al-Astal’s 23-year-old son Mohammed suffers from kidney failure and requires dialysis three times a week.

He said his health deteriorated dramatically due to unhealthy conditions, hard access to clean water and gunpowder polluting the air.

This story is related to Egabu.