UNEXPLODED bombs and the uncontrolled dumping of rubbish pose the greatest environmental and public health risks to residents of the Gaza Strip, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
In addition, Gazans face health risks due to increased discharges of raw sewage, the contamination of ground and drinking water, polluted agricultural fields and other environmental effects stemming largely from the recent 23-day Israeli offensive on Gaza.
These will be the focus of an upcoming UN Environment Programme (UNEP) assessment to be conducted by a team of eight experts in May, with the results expected by early July.
A major health threat is posed by the accumulation of about 28,000 metric tonnes (mt) of municipal rubbish piled up across Gaza during the conflict due, in part, to movement restrictions, according to the UNDP in Gaza.
In Rafah, about 10,000mt of rubbish has been dumped by the shoreline in the Tal’a Sultan area and tonnes more are piled up east of Gaza City, UNDP environmental officer Husam Tubail said.
He added that the local authorities lacked the equipment and resources to dispose of it.
The three main sites for dumping refuse in Gaza are reportedly already at maximum capacity.
The Gaza authorities are alarmed by the health risks posed by the number of children playing on or near municipal rubbish dumps, rubble and unstable substances.
‘Contamination of water and land, and the handling of hazardous waste and rubble are the most pressing issues (in Gaza),’ said Tubail.
Hazardous waste includes waste from healthcare facilities, asbestos and other material mixed up with the rubble. Tubail said it also includes unexploded ordinance (UXO), such as bombs and grenades that failed to detonate.
Humanitarian organisation MAG International and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) are working to clear UXO to reduce the threat of death and injury, and to facilitate safe access to areas for internally displaced persons and humanitarian workers.
Seven people have been killed by UXO since the end of the conflict – one last week in eastern Gaza – according to Tubail.
‘About 250 industrial facilities and factories – such as textile and food processing factories, and small workshops – were destroyed. It is still unclear what chemicals were released as a result,’ he added.
According to Gaza environment quality authority chairman Yusuf al-Ghuraiz, about 600,000mt of rubble resulted from the bombardments – and some of this is mixed with asbestos, as most homes in refugee camps were built of concrete and asbestos.
Gaza environment quality authority engineer Ibrahim Abdulla noted: ‘Asbestos fibres are fine and when inhaled they enter the lung tissue, causing cancer.’
‘Many houses in my neighbourhood that were destroyed contained asbestos,’ said Makram Hanoun from the A’ Tufa area of Gaza City. ‘I fear my children’s health is at risk from the toxic fumes.’
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have admitted using phosphorus during the campaign, which ended on 18 January 2009.
‘The IDF used two types of white phosphorous during its operation; the first was used to mark targets in open areas and the second was used as a smokescreen with pieces of felt built into the shell to absorb the white phosphorous to protect soldiers,’ IDF spokesperson Maj Avital Leibovitz told the Isreali media.
He claimed that both types of munitions were used in accordance with international law.
‘DIME and undepleted uranium were not used by the IDF during the recent operation’ claimed Leibovitz.
UNDP and the Gaza authorities both estimate urgent rehabilitation needs of over US$25 million.
However, a recent appeal appears not to have been met so far.
The suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza was compounded on Thursday when two Palestinians were killed after a smuggling tunnel linking the Gaza Strip and Egypt collapsed, Palestinian medics said.
Three other people who were in the tunnel at the time of the collapse were still missing, they said.
The Palestinians have been using hundreds of tunnels to ferry food supplies and other necessities into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since June 2007.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in the occupied territory of the West Bank continue to be harrassed and their lives threatened by illegal settlers and the Zionist state.
On Thursday an Israeli settler ran down a Palestinian girl near Yatta in the morning and fled from the scene as locals brought the girl to hospital.
The teen, identified as 15-year-old Hind Issa Khalil Al-Amur, suffered from moderate/severe bruising and was taken to the Yatta Governmental Hospital to receive treatment.
Less than a day earlier, villagers in Artas sent appeals for help against a busload of settlers and armed Israeli soldiers infiltrating the area.
A hill just outside the area, southwest of Bethlehem, was reportedly overrun by soldiers and settlers for much of the afternoon.
Locals feared the group would destroy the agricultural land, much of which is ready for spring harvest.
The village will host a lettuce festival next week to celebrate the crop which is central to the livelihoods of most residents.
• Imprisoned member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Jamal At-Tirawi refused an order to wear a new orange prison uniform at the Jalbou’a prison starting on Saturday.
The Fatah bloc member has been detained since May 2007, and has had his appearance before a judge delayed 38 times. His trial is currently scheduled for tomorrow, May 3rd.
A statement from At-Tirawi said the prison administration has ignored all requests to allow inmates to continue wearing street clothes provided by family members.
This is a general rule that has prevailed in Israeli prisons since shortly after the outbreak of the second Intifada.
Prisoners say the new dictate is meant to humiliate, and At-Tirawi accused the prison administration in Israel of ‘ignoring all international decisions in such cases while dealing with detainees’.
At-Tirawi noted that lawyers for several of the detainees have stepped in to prevent the move, but that Israeli prison guards prevented them from entering the meeting.
The prison administration has also threatened to close the prison canteen, where prisoners can buy food and basic writing supplies, as well as the clinic if prisoners refuse to wear the new uniforms.
