The United Nations children’s agency announced that Israel rejected the importation of equipment required to fix a water basin in Gaza. Officials warned the facility could overflow and threaten nearby residents with flooding and disease.
Local authorities stated that Israel destroyed water infrastructure and pumping vehicles during its war against Hamas. The conflict has displaced the majority of the territory’s population of more than two million residents, leaving much of Gaza in ruins and forcing most people to live in tent camps.
One damaged site is the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin in Gaza City. UNICEF representative James Elder said the basin is contaminated with sewage and faces an overflow risk following heavy rainfall.
Elder told reporters in Geneva the agency had spent a year working with Israeli authorities and the Board of Peace on a three million dollar repair plan. He stated that COGAT, the Israeli military agency overseeing humanitarian affairs in the territory, rejected the project in recent days.
Toxic sewage could flow into the streets and tents of Gaza City, forcing families from their makeshift homes and sharply increasing disease threats, Elder said. He urged authorities to permit the rehabilitation before the facility becomes another preventable killer of children.
COGAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Elder said the agency cited security grounds, referencing strict rules regulating items that could have dual civilian and military uses.
Heavy rain this week already flooded tens of thousands of tents housing displaced Palestinians in encampments across the Gaza Strip. Four people, including three small children, died when a sand embankment collapsed on their tents.
A ceasefire brokered by the United States last year called for eventual reconstruction in Gaza. Progress has stalled as negotiators failed to reach agreement on terms for Hamas to disarm or for Israeli troops to withdraw.
World Health Organization spokesperson Christian Lindmeier warned at the same briefing of significant communicable disease risks from flooding, poor sanitation, and inadequate health and water services.
Nearly one million displaced people across the Gaza Strip currently face medium or high flood risks, Lindmeier said.
