UNITED NATIONS, Jun 28 (APP): Huge mounds of garbage rotting in the sweltering heat are piling up close to where displaced people are sheltering in war-ravaged Gaza, a UN official said on Friday, heightening fears about the further spread of disease.
“You can hear bombardments from the north, the middle and the south…Gaza now really is hell on earth, It’s very hot…Trash is piling up everywhere, people living under plastic sheeting where temperatures soar,” said Louise Wateridge, a senior communications officer with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, hours after returning to the shattered enclave.
Hundreds of thousands of Gazans who had fled to southern Gaza earlier in the more than 8-month of deadly Israeli attacks have been uprooted again since Israel expanded its military operations against Hamas to the southern city of Rafah in early May.
Ms. Wateridge said that a pile of waste weighing an estimated 100,000 tonnes was building up near people’s tents in central Gaza.
“It’s among the population and it’s building up without anywhere to go. It just keeps getting worse. And, with the temperatures rising, it’s really adding misery to the living conditions here,” she told journalists via video link from Gaza.
Israel has refused repeated requests to allow UNRWA to empty the main landfill sites, she said, meaning temporary ones are emerging, she added. Even if permission is granted, Wateridge said UNRWA’s humanitarian missions such as trash collection have all but halted due to Israeli refusals to allow fuel imports.
Israel claims it has expanded efforts to facilitate aid flows into Gaza and blames aid agencies for distribution problems inside the enclave. It controls fuel shipments into Gaza and has long used the excuse that there is a risk they are diverted to Hamas.
The World Health Organization’s Tarik Jasarevic said the trash, along with the rising heat, a lack of clean drinking water and sanitation services, was adding to disease risks.
“It can lead to a number of communicable diseases appearing,” he said, mentioning that around 470,000 cases of diarrhoea have been reported since the start of the war.
Wateridge, who arrived back in Gaza on Thursday after a four-week absence, said the situation had deteriorated significantly. She described the living conditions as “unbearable” with people sweltering under plastic sheets and cowering in bombed out buildings.
Deputy Commissioner Dr Waqar Ali Khan on Friday chaired a high level meeting in which top officials and scholars gathered to ensure peace and harmony during the holy month of Muharram.
The District Peace Committee presented suggestions to maintain order and promised full cooperation with the administration.
The DC emphasized the importance of religious tolerance, love, and lawfulness, while District Police Officer Bilal Zafar Sheikh highlighted the crucial role of interfaith dialogue in maintaining security and stability in the district.
