Gaza's health crisis worsens as mass graves, garbage draw pests and disease

Crippled by an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe amid the ongoing war, Gaza is facing serious health and environmental threats due to the accumulation of rubble, mass graves and waste that can not be collected and stored properly.

The crisis is a direct result of Israel’s 200+-day bombing campaign.

"Mosquitoes have chewed us up because of this garbage. Someone needs to remove the garbage. For God’s sake!" a boy in Gaza City told journalists earlier this month, as he stood amid large piles of rubbish.

“The garbage caused several diseases among children and people," a Palestinian man standing in front of a mountain of waste told Anadolu Agency. "All relevant bodies are unable to work, and lack the capability and equipment to work."

Illness growing

In a recent statement, Gaza’s government media office warned that there have been "unprecedented" health and environmental repercussions for at least 700,000 people living in northern Gaza, with mountains of waste building, hundreds of mass graves, and hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble in various areas.

Ahmed Abu Abdu, director of Gaza municipality’s Department of Health and Environment Affairs, told TRT World that waste accumulation has led to the spread of infectious diseases, reporting cases of hepatitis A and "strong indicators" of malaria infections in Gaza City.

Abu Abdu warned of the risk of spreading skin infections, rashes, and allergic reactions resulting from contaminated water, as well as respiratory complications due to hazardous burning waste. Residents frequently use this as a method of disposal, but it releases harmful pollutants and toxins in the air.

He also noted that a proliferation of rodents and insects has been found throughout Gaza City such as rats, mice, flies and mosquitoes who have been attracted by the waste, especially in densely populated areas, where it's easier to transmit diseases.

More than 1.7 million Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes in the north under Israel's bombardment to find refuge in southern Gaza are living with trash piling up among tents and shelters as garbage trucks are made unusable due to Israeli attacks. Waste collection is also hampered by fuel shortages, according to a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Speaking to TRT World, Victor Munteanu, UNDP's head of Gaza office, said the problems included understaffing, insufficient vehicles, limited capability at a municipal level, and lack of fuel.

"The accumulation of uncollected waste in the streets has become one main public health concern," Munteanu added, highlighting how waste disposal was already operating under strain before the war broke out in October.

Six months into Tel Aviv's unprecedented aggression, some 300 heavy and medium municipal vehicles have been destroyed or damaged, based on data from Gaza municipality. Some 130,000 metres of wastewater network and 30 wastewater pump stations have also been badly damaged by the Israeli army.

Gaza municipality's vehicle depot has suffered destruction leading to the loss of "90 percent of waste collection and disposal vehicles" in the capital, as indicated by the H & E department's head who also spoke about a “severe shortage of diesel fuel” that impedes the remaining vehicles from operating.

Garbage piling up

In a statement earlier this month, Gaza Municipalities Union Coordinator Husni Muhenna said that municipal teams in the central and southern parts of Gaza cannot provide basic services because of the high number of displaced, and are struggling to handle an increase in rubbish piles in Rafah and Deir al-Balah.

During the first four and half months of Israel's offensive, Muhenna noted that nearly 80,000 tons of garbage had accumulated because of the halt in the transfer of garbage to the main waste landfill, located on the eastern border of Gaza. This has been inaccessible due to ongoing fighting.

The Gaza municipality told TRT World that over 100,000 tons of waste has piled up since the beginning of the war in the streets of Gaza City, which poses grave long-term effects for public health and safety. Abu Abdu warned of disease outbreaks, respiratory problems and vector-borne diseases, as well as water contamination, fire hazards, and contamination of groundwater and air pollution "affecting both human health and the environment."

Decomposing bodies due to the presence of temporary mass graves around urban centres are heightening the threat of a public health crisis.

This reality adds to already dire hygiene conditions, including lack of access to basic healthcare services, acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, contributing to the unfolding health disaster in Gaza.

'Living on the edge'

"Gaza has been living on the edge, barely functioning before this war," said Rania Masri, an environmental justice scholar and human rights activist.

Speaking to TRT World, she added that the 17-year-old "criminal blockade" that preceded the latest war weakened waste management services and severely limited Gaza's access to water and electricity. The activist advocated for the need for not just a ceasefire, but also the lifting of the siege.

Discussing other aspects of the looming public health crisis, she brought attention to the possible health effects of the use of unknown or little-known weapons in the Israeli offensive and of the bombing of houses.

"We don’t know scientifically the extent of the impact of the weapons and of the rubble on people’s health," said Masri, who is the co-director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network. "What’s the composition? What gets released in the air, soil and water when those arms are used and homes are destroyed?"

The scholar stressed that the "extraordinarily high" risks originating from waste pollution become even higher when one takes into account the very weak health state of Gaza's population. Masri estimated that hundreds of thousands of people (at the very least) are suffering from infectious and communicable diseases, and more than 1.5 million have malnutrition.

Lacking international help

Israel's deadly onslaught on Gaza, which has so far killed over 34,000 Palestinians, has displaced 85 percent of the territory's population, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

"The health risk is truly apocalyptic. There are layers and layers of concerns: waste accumulation, military waste, sewage overflow, landfill exposure on top of an extremely dense population living in a non-functioning system," Masri said.

The municipal authority in Gaza City has repeatedly appealed to international institutions and organisations for assistance in waste management to continue providing services that the Israeli assault has almost completely paralysed.

Abu Abdu said, “Immediate assistance is required to address the urgent needs for access to the main landfill, new solid waste management vehicles, diesel fuel, and mobilisation of waste management staff."

To date, no support has been reportedly received and the situation has subsequently worsened, producing a cumulative effect since the waste collection and disposal system was already inadequate prior to the war.

In the southern and central governorates, UNDP has stepped up its efforts in coordination with Gaza Municipalities Union in response to the emergency. Between January and March, the UN agency collected 24,000 tons of waste, distributed 47,000 litres of fuel, and employed 373 municipal service workers for waste disposal, according to figures shared by UNDP's Gaza office director, who estimated that 230 tons of waste per day are currently being collected.

Munteanu however pointed out that denials and tight restrictions of humanitarian access into Gaza imposed by Israeli authorities as well as lack of security for the delivery of equipment and the movement of staff continue to greatly limit their activities on the ground.

"We need a ceasefire now to ensure a full-fledged operation by humanitarian and early recovery actors and access to all that has to be brought into Gaza," he said.