Rainfall makes Gaza emergency even worse

This weekend’s rainfall flooded Gaza, leaving both the displaced along with residents extremely vulnerable to the extreme weather.

Saad al-Din al-Atbash, head of Gaza’s water authority, told Anadolu Agency that “The recent war destroyed everything in Gaza, many sewage pipes and water networks are still buried under the rubble”. This, along with the damaged electricity network, has been further aggravated by the weekend storm.

Al Bawaba reports that “streets in Khan Younis in Gaza were swamped and contained homes filled with water”. Thousands of displaced Palestinians are living in tents or caravans, which have little or no protection from the rain.

The mayor of Khuzaa warns that the effect of rain could be more difficult that the war itself. “As winter approaches, there will be a humanitarian disaster in Khuzaa because we can’t control the route of floods after the war has changed the structure of the landscape and destroyed all constituents of life in the town including water, electricity and telecommunication networks and infrastructure,” he said.

UN agencies estimate that around 90,000 homes must be rebuilt, in addition to hundreds of schools and other major infrastructure, which were systematically destroyed in Israel’s attack.

Israeli authorities announced that the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings would be closed until further notice, according to the Ma’an news agency.

[AIC]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation by Grant Montgomery.