After two years of almost continuous bombing, Israeli forces achieved killed more than 60,000 Palestiniansat least a third of which children. Human sacrifices called genocide human rights organizations all over the world and UN commissionbut a new report from an Israeli think tank points to environmental devastation: Gaza's soil is contaminated after destruction wastewater treatment plantsSewage pollution is widespread, and the amount of particulate matter left behind by exploding bombs is increasing. respiratory disease.
According to a new report from the Arava Institute, an Israeli environmental research institute, the Gaza Strip is covered by approximately 61 million tons of crushed stonemuch of which contains asbestos, unexploded ordnance and unburied human remains. “The environmental situation in the Gaza Strip before October 7 was a disaster,” said Tarek Abuhamed, who heads the Arawa Institute and is Palestinian. Recovery from even that catastrophic state will likely take decades.
A UN report published at the end of September found that almost 70 billion dollars Over the past two years, Gaza's roads, buildings and infrastructure have been damaged, and more than 80 percent of arable land has been destroyed. Less than 10 percent of all hazardous waste is disposed of safely, and the majority is disposed of as needed. burned or dumped in open dumps. Meanwhile, untreated wastewater is discharged directly onto land or into the sea.
“Garbage turns into mountains, and mountains are breeding grounds for mosquitoes and rodents that spread malaria,” said Yasser El-Nahhal, an environmental chemist and ecotoxicologist at the Islamic University of Gaza.
Long before the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. blockade prevented easy access to water, electricity and food. There were rolling blackouts general in Palestine for the past 20 years, and many residents have relied on small desalination plantsplants that make sea water drinkable, and private water tanks purchase drinking water. Now the organization of help Doctors Without Borders says only 1 out of every 10 of their water import requests are approved by Israeli authorities.
“Environment [was] destroyed before the war,” El-Nahhal said. “But since the war it has been destroyed several times more than you can imagine.”
Palestinian researcher Mazin Qumsiyah from Bethlehem University Palestinian Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability names what is happening now ecocide: A term broadly defined as severe, long-term, and widespread destruction of the environment. A growing coalition of countries hopes to legally define ecocide as crime The International Criminal Court could prosecute.
“Gaza has, of course, been a functioning society, although over the last 16 years it has been subject to significant sanctions that have limited supplies,” Kumsiah said. “They had a functioning society. They had schools, universities, sewage treatment plants and a desalination plant. All of that was destroyed in this genocidal, ecocidal war.”
Earlier this month, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world's largest conservation congress, signed a resolution arguing that ecocide should be treated as a criminal offense. Jojo Mehta, Founder of Legal Defense Group Stop international ecocidesaid that while the resolution defines ecocide quite broadly, it can certainly be applied to Israeli behavior in the Gaza Strip. “What’s happening to the environment in Gaza is terrible,” Mehta said. “I don’t think anyone doubts that this is ecocidal.”
Israeli officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
Arawa's report calls for unimpeded aid to Gaza, as well as the provision of drinking water systems and personal hygiene kits to mitigate the effects of disease. The United Nations wrote in a September report that making Gaza's environment livable again “will require a cessation of fighting. The first phase of reconstruction will focus on saving lives by restoring basic services and removing debris.”
Still, Bethlehem University's Qumsiyah said the Palestinians will continue to rebuild – even if, as he said is likely, the current ceasefire falls apart. “I'm not saying we're a huge success,” he said. “But imagine your community being destroyed dozens of times and you continue to rebuild. It shows an incredible amount of hope.”
