Children in Khan Younis play among the rubbish and search for anything of value. Photo: Yasser Arafat

The Israeli invasion of Gaza Strip has not only caused the destruction of people’s homes, but it is also the main reason behind the humanitarian crises of water shortage, electricity outages, cooking gas and fuel shortages, and a lack of healthcare. Now a new crisis has developed as mountains of trash replace Gaza City’s trees and plants.

The unsanitary conditions are another reminder of the incessant malice of the Israeli war on Gaza. The infrastructure that would have removed waste and supported a clean and healthy society has been destroyed. Instead of trees lining the roadsides, providing shade and fresh air, the city is now filled with huts and holes full of rats and harmful insects. Deadly odors and polluted air have replaced the scent of flowers and fresh air. The public park in the middle of the city has been transformed from a green space into a barren land filled with displaced people‘s tents and mounds of garbage. Instead of butterflies, flies buzz around us. Day and night, people have become accustomed to the whine of mosquitoes instead of the chirping of birds.

One of the toilets for displaced people in Rafah. Photo: Samah Arafat

When my aunt Wedad returned from the south after the ceasefire announcement, she found that her house had been destroyed. She resorted to erecting her tent next to the ruins of her home and built a toilet adjacent to it.

The word “toilet” bears little relation to a typical toilet in a home. It is not a sanitary place of privacy, but a box made of nylon and wood with a large hole in the middle to collect urine and feces. These are the only toilets available to Gazans. Sometimes, there are planks of wood above the hole for to stand or squat on. Sometimes, people place an open bucket over the hole and secure it with a cement weight, if they can find one.

The perpetual war has turned Gaza into a toxic environment. Toilets, such as those in Rafah (pictured), are a breeding ground for cockroaches and other pests, and a source of germs and disease. Deadly odors from these makeshift toilets and latrines pollute the air, resulting in numerous respiratory problems, especially for children and the elderly.

This toilet, one of the better ones, is constructed from nylon and wood. A bucket and lid, secured with a cement weight, covers the hole to reduce the stench. Photo: Samah Arafat

The buildup of rubbish has led to significant soil, water, and air pollution. Inorganic rubbish that cannot decompose affects soil fertility and plant growth. The fermentation of rubbish produces harmful chemicals that leak into the groundwater and, along with the seepage from decaying organic material, especially after the winter rains, affects the water quality.

This environmental pollution menaces the life and health of Gazans because they have no shelter from it. The rubbish piles up adjacent to tents and homes. Even immunocompromised people have to live amidst the waste. Children play with empty cans, bags, and anything they find.

The chance of contracting various diseases is increasing in areas with large, concentrated populations, such as in displacement camps where tents cluster closely together. There, the quantity of rubbish is much higher, and the spread of maladies — from chest inflammations to skin allergies — is increasing. People suffer from itching caused by biting insects like flies and mosquitoes, as well as from shortness of breath due to the foul odors emanating from the garbage. Mice and other rodents, which infest every place, carry diseases. The summer heat will only exacerbate the problem, and diseases will increase and spread.

The people of Gaza have no relief from this torment.

My sister Samah and her seven children are one of the families who suffer under the colossal rubbish crisis. After the ceasefire was announced, they returned from the south to find their home partially destroyed. They live in the only remaining room of their house in the east of Gaza City’s Al-Shuja’iyya neighborhood. There, tents have replaced the homes that were bulldozed by the Israeli army. Residents are surrounded by rubble and piles of rubbish. The rubbish increases each day as waste collects, and with it the resulting deadly odors, insects, mice, and mosquitoes proliferate.

Three-year-old Tasneem is afraid of the mice that have invaded their partially destroyed home. Photo: Samah Arafat

This miserable situation has affected the health of my 17-year-old niece, Sondos. Her asthma has steadily worsened as has the severe inflammation of her right foot. She waits impatiently for her name to appear on the list of patients seeking treatment abroad.

Her mother Samah managed to obtain three precious bags of flour despite the crossing closures but, because there is no enclosed place to store food safely, these were soiled and spoiled by mice.

There is no safe place for anything. There are no closed doors or windows, only broken walls with nylon covers. Sondos’s three-year-old sister, Tasneem, is scared of the mice since one walked through her hair while she was sleeping. Now Tasneem sees mice in her dreams. There is no escape and no rest from the continual upheaval of their life.

My sister’s family’s situation is not unique. This is the reality for many families in Gaza. They are being buried alive by the huge and increasing quantity of rubbish. The war has not only destroyed the infrastructure for disposing of liquid rubbish; it has also prevented the entry of equipment necessary for recycling and processing solid rubbish. Any existing landfills are in border areas, such as Juhar Al-Dik in the south of Gaza, and these are occupied by the army so the lives of sanitation workers are in constant danger.

A decent life is the fundamental right for all humans and yet Gazans are struggling to survive in the toxic conditions created by the Israeli occupation and its barbaric war on the Gaza Strip. The new humanitarian crises facing Gazans can only be resolved by stopping the war and allowing the necessary aid and equipment to be brought in to dispose of the disease-ridden mountains of filth.