Israel devastates Gaza’s environment for years to come, warn experts

Israel’s weeks-long bombing campaign has flattened a large part of Gaza.

Residential buildings, schools, mosques and even hospitals have been turned into a mix of dust and twisted metal. For the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people, the air has become unbreathable, water is contaminated and a lack of food has exposed people to various diseases.

But climate experts warn the effects of war run deeper than what’s immediately visible.

“Air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, toxic contamination and large volumes of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by military conflict,” UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment David R. Boyd tells TRT World via email.

“These environmental impacts exacerbate the toll of death and injury directly caused by acts of war, but the environmental death toll will continue for decades due to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer caused by exposure to elevated levels of pollution.”

By November 1, Israel had dropped 18,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza, equivalent to about 1.5 times the disastrous force unleashed on Hiroshima by the United States during World War II.

The environmental disaster brought about by relentless Israeli bombings will have a disastrous impact on Palestinians in years to come, experts say.

Even before the war broke out on October 7, many Palestinians living in Gaza were diagnosed with serious illnesses, such as cancer. What makes the crisis even worse is the Israeli blockade, which hinders the sick from getting treatment anywhere else and disrupts the supply of essential medicines.

A landscape in ruins

A prolonged period of heavy explosions — as is happening in Gaza — leaves massive amounts of cement particles suspended in the air. Chemicals and deadly gases left by ammunition linger in the environment for years to come, poisoning plant life and polluting water.

An internationally coordinated effort will be needed to fix the ecosystem and make the environment livable for civilians, says Dr Erum Zahir, a professor in the University of Karachi’s chemistry department.

“In conflict-affected areas, the detonation of explosives can release significant amounts of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter.

“Estimates based on available information show substantial carbon dioxide emissions, posing severe health risks and economic challenges in [the] densely populated region.”

Use of toxic weapons

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor have called out Israel for using white phosphorus in Gaza.

When exposed to air, the chemical burns at extremely high temperatures — high enough to burn through metal and bone — and often ignites fires in areas where it is deployed, affecting the environment.

The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says white phosphorus can slowly accumulate in the bodies of fish that live in contaminated lakes or streams.

White phosphorus cannot be put out with water, instead, Zahir says the incendiary substance “has the ability to react with water to produce the gaseous chemical phosphine, which is harmful to the liver, central nervous system, and lungs.”

Phosphine is the colourless, flammable gas that lends white phosphorus its garlic-like scent. Respiratory damage, organ failure, and other horrific and life-changing injuries, including burns that are extremely difficult to treat, or death can result from white phosphorus exposure.

White phosphorus is also used as a smokescreen or to mark targets. This allows militaries, such as Israel’s, to come up with an excuse that it is not covered by Protocol III under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which prohibits the use of incendiary weapons in densely populated areas.

“The use of white phosphorus in Gaza is a violation of international law and a violation of the human rights of Palestinians,” says UN Special Rapporteur Boyd, adding that “Israel is not among the 127 States that have agreed to be bound by Protocol III, although they are a Party to the Convention.”

According to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: “Israel’s escalating use of white phosphorus and smoke bombs targeting crowded residential areas comes as part of its forced displacement and ethnic cleansing policies, which have forced half of Gaza’s population to leave their homes, shelters, and hospitals and attempt to move to the south of the Gaza Valley.”

Exacerbating water crisis

Palestine is already described as a region suffering from heat, drought and water scarcity, and is geographically vulnerable because of the climate crisis.

It also faces a severe shortage of water, the supply of which is controlled by Israel.

Gaza’s wastewater treatment plants and almost all the sewage pumping stations have shut down, according to Oxfam, which adds that untreated sewage is now being discharged into the Mediterranean Sea.

Finding food and clean drinking water is a struggle, says 22-year-old Hanady Altawil, a resident of Gaza.

“We often find ourselves waiting for days until it's our turn to buy a sufficient amount of water. In some areas, [people] can't even get water, so they drink from regular tap water, which even in the United States and some other countries, it's not [fit] for animals to drink.

“Food is very scarce, and prices have skyrocketed because quantities are limited. To buy bread, we have to wait in line for hours, and sometimes we get our turn, sometimes we don't,” she said via WhatsApp.

Indirect emissions

Globally, militaries have been known to produce around 5.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from warfare contribute further to that figure, says Boyd.

“Greenhouse gas emissions are produced not only by military activities, but also by the production of military vehicles and arms and then there are the environmental costs of remediation and rebuilding in Gaza, which will be massive.”

For people living in Gaza, the destruction of critical water, sanitation and electricity infrastructure makes their already challenging lives even more difficult, jeopardising their rights to life, health, food, water, sanitation and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Boyd adds: “I do not believe that humanity can achieve a just and sustainable future in a world that continues to engage in military conflict.

“In other words, peace is a prerequisite for sustainable development. It is impossible to reconcile the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment with the horrific impacts of war.”