Hundreds of Palestinians displaced in March due to Israel’s new offensive in northern Gaza found themselves in dire living conditions after being forced to camp next to a landfill in Gaza City.
This footage was captured on March 22 by journalist Nedal Ahmed, who said it shows families from the northern towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun staying in tents next to huge mounds of garbage and waste, where they faced the threat of disease.
A few days earlier, large numbers of people fled Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued evacuation warnings to several areas, and told residents to head to shelters in western Gaza City and Khan Yunis.
Problems with waste management had become systemic in Gaza as municipal sanitation broke down over the course of the war, Reuters reported in February.
A UN report in October found waste management infrastructure had “been crippled by the ongoing war.” Gaza’s two main landfills were made inaccessible, “leading to the proliferation of temporary waste dumping sites and the accumulation of solid waste (including hazardous medical waste) in the streets and around IDP shelters and makeshift camps.”
“These unregulated dumping sites, containing almost half a million tons of solid waste often contaminated witha range of hazardous materials, have been acting as breeding ground for disease vectors – such asmosquitoes and rats,” the UN said. Credit: Nedal Ahmed via Storyful
