Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis, due to the Israeli ground operation, move towards Rafah, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday, January 27, 2024. - Reuters
RAMALLAH (Bernama): Sixty-six per cent of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip suffer from spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera, chronic diarrhea, and intestinal diseases, due to the lack of drinkable water and the closure of all water desalination plants as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression, the enclave’s Environmental Quality Authority (EQA) said.
It said Israeli bombing of sewage lines and causing them to flood, had led to a health and environmental catastrophe, especially the Sheikh Radwan Pool, which has reached a critical level due to the accumulation of rainwater and the leakage of wastewater into it, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The EQA in a statement added that the occupation's aggression also resulted in the uprooting of about 50,000 trees and the bulldozing of thousands of acres of agricultural land, nurseries, and home gardens, which leads to increased desertification, loss of biodiversity, deterioration of soil quality, and increased carbon dioxide emissions.
It pointed out that the digital environmental campaign contains data and information about the serious negative impacts on the Palestinian environment.
It said the aggression does not only constitute a humanitarian catastrophe, but also works to destroy the components of the environment.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct 7 has climbed to 25,900, the Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave said on Thursday, reported the Anadolu Agency.
The ministry, in a statement, said 64,110 others have also been injured.
The Israeli forces committed 24 massacres across the Gaza Strip in the last 21 hours, killing at least 200 people and wounding 370 others, the ministry said, adding: "Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads, and rescuers can’t reach them."
The ministry accused Israel of committing "genocidal crimes in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency-run shelters and in the al-Mawasi area" (city of Khan Younis), which it claims to be safe.
Israel has struck the Gaza Strip since October. About 85 per cent of Gazans have since been displaced due to the onslaught, while all of them are food insecure, according to the UN.
Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter.
The International Court of Justice will announce its verdict on South Africa’s request for an interim ruling in its genocide case against Israel on Friday. - Bernama
Tags: Gaza, Israel attacks, environment destructions,Environmental Quality Authority
