Gaza Municipality: Famine is ravaging the Strip’s population due to the Israeli blockade

Hosni Nadim Muhanna, spokesperson for the Gaza Municipality, said that residents of Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, are suffering catastrophic conditions under the tight Israeli blockade. He warned of worsening famine and thirst due to the lack of fuel needed to operate water, sewage, and desalination plants.

The spokesperson for the Gaza Municipality added, yesterday, Thursday, during an interview on Al-Qahera News Channel, that the occupation is deliberately targeting infrastructure in Gaza City, including water facilities, in addition to municipal staff and equipment. He pointed out that the Gaza Municipality is currently operating with almost no resources to provide the minimum level of services.

He pointed out that in a city currently home to more than 1.2 million citizens, most of whom are displaced due to forced displacement from the north and south of the Gaza Strip, only 19 water wells are operating.

Meanwhile, the population density is stiflingly concentrated in the western and central areas of the city, which were subjected to widespread destruction during the war.

He explained that the services the municipality continues to provide are limited to providing water, as much as possible, along with collecting and transporting waste from shelters and hospitals to temporary landfills.

This, in turn, poses a significant environmental and health risk, with more than 260,000 tons of waste piling up in residential areas. He emphasized that we are facing a true health and environmental disaster, with a water shortage of more than 80% in the amount of water needed for residents.

The municipality is still attempting to carry out limited maintenance on some networks to alleviate the suffering, despite the occupation’s destruction of more than 134 municipal vehicles, which hinders the provision of any vital services. He emphasized that the situation in Gaza is beyond description, and that the continued Israeli targeting makes the provision of any services extremely difficult.