Gaza Municipality: 170,000 tons of garbage accumulated in the streets

The Gaza Municipality warned on Monday of a major health and environmental disaster due to thousands of tons of waste in the streets and temporary dumps, because the Israeli occupation prevented its crews from reaching the main landfill near the eastern border of the city, and destroyed most of its vehicles during the aggression on the Strip.

The municipality said in a statement that “Gaza City is experiencing a major health and environmental disaster due to the accumulation of about 170,000 tons of waste in the streets and temporary dumps, due to the occupation preventing municipal crews from reaching the landfill east of the city and the occupation destroying about 80 percent of the municipality’s mechanisms.”

It said it had carried out a campaign to collect and transfer waste from the city’s streets and neighbourhoods to makeshift landfills.

In mid-February, the municipality launched an emergency plan to remove the accumulated waste in the streets and neighborhoods of Gaza City and shelters to mitigate the health and environmental disaster.