The war in Gaza has inflicted cataclysmic devastation on the environment, the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) revealed on the occasion of World Environment Day.
“ The war in Gaza has disrupted millions of Palestinian lives and caused catastrophic damage to the natural environment on which they depend for water, clean air, food and livelihoods “, UNRWA said in a post on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
According to the UN Agency, the restoration of environmental services in Gaza would take “decades” and could only begin after the establishment of a ceasefire and the end of hostilities.
In the same wake, the office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the Middle East expressed its deep concerns about the repercussions of the conflict on the daily lives of Palestinians. Among the major concerns is the accumulation of “tons of solid waste” in the Gaza Strip, exacerbating an already dire situation.
“ Children and their families live next to landfills, suffering from diseases and foul odors », Described the UNICEF regional office on X, showing in passing the testimony of a 13-year-old girl on the environment of Gazans forced to live next to waste. “ The smell is very bad. How can I handle this? Everyone here is very sick. Help us, please “, did she say.
“ We are tired of this garbage, it causes us a lot of diseases and we are infected with hepatitis. We can’t sleep because of the smell of garbage. Get rid of trash », added another 11-year-old child.
Even before the conflict broke out, Gaza was already grappling with colossal waste management challenges. Every day, it produced 1,700 tonnes of waste, a load that only two main landfills struggled to absorb, as highlighted in a report from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in March 2024.
For example, before the war, 3.9 million tonnes of waste were piled up in the main Johr Edeek landfill in northern Gaza. The UNDP reported that mountains of waste, reaching between 20 and 35 meters high, were accumulating there.
The landfill had exceeded its capacity for years, sparking frequent fires due to insufficient resources, and sparking growing concerns about its devastating effects on the environment, public health and society. The UNDP described this situation as a “silent threat”.
At the same time, UNRWA reported that the Israeli ground offensive continued to expand, particularly in the south of Gaza City and east of Rafah, notably around the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) and from Rafah.
It should be noted that between May 28 and June 1, only 232 trucks of humanitarian aid entered through Kerem Shalom, representing a significant reduction in aid entering before the Rafah military operation. During this period, UNRWA remained the main UN agency operating through the Kerem Shalom border post, with the majority of aid consisting of flour and/or food items.
For its part, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes that the ongoing conflict in Palestine is expected to further worsen the already catastrophic levels of acute hunger, with starvation and death already underway, as well as the unprecedented number of deaths, widespread destruction and displacement of almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip.
In mid-March 2024, the UN anticipated an imminent famine, forecast for the end of May, threatening the two northern governorates of the Gaza Strip, unless there was a cessation of hostilities, full humanitarian access and restoration of essential services. More than a million people, representing half of Gaza’s population, could face a life-threatening famine crisis (IPC Phase 5) by mid-July.
