Sewage Spill Turns Gaza's Coastline Brown
Health professionals are alarmed about the growing spread of open sewage and infections throughout the beleaguered area as the waters around sections of Gaza’s Mediterranean shoreline turn brown. Significant sewage spills off the coast of Deir al-Balah are shown on satellite pictures. Local authorities claim that displaced residents of surrounding camps are aggravating the environmental problem by simply dumping their waste into the sea.
“It is because of the increase in the number of displaced people, many are connecting their pipes to the rainwater drainage system,” said a local emergency committee official. With visible wastewater running into the sea from packed camps, this temporary fix aggravates already bad conditions.
One environmentalist corroborated this by examining satellite images and saying, “Wastewater appears to be heading into the sea from nearby crowded camps.” The pictures taken on August 2 revealed the sewage flow extending more than two square kilometres (0.8 square miles). First showing in June, the pollution has gradually increased over the next two months. The lack of recent satellite data makes it unknown whether the pollution is still growing.
Collapse of Gaza's Wastewater Management System
Direct links between severe Israeli bombardments and the breakdown of Gaza’s wastewater treatment system have been established. According to a United Nations environmental analysis, these strikes destroyed vital infrastructure. The continuous war makes it almost hard to solve this problem, increasing the humanitarian calamity.
The agency in Israel’s defence ministry in charge of Palestinian territory policy admitted the problem but noted initiatives to better the circumstances. The company asserted that a committed humanitarian task team had overseen the rehabilitation of water wells, desalination plants, and water pipe expansion in Gaza. Despite these initiatives, strong limitations on independent reporters accessing Gaza make verification challenging.
The fast worsening health state in Gaza worries health professionals greatly. The breakdown of the sanitary infrastructure has sped the dissemination of waterborne infections. The first known case in Gaza in 25 years, the partial paralysis of a 10-month-old infant who acquired Polio, has attracted a lot of public interest recently.
Vaccination Efforts Hindered by the Conflict
The United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have desperately urged two one-week ceasefires to vaccinate 600,000 children in Gaza. Many onlookers, however, worry that these initiatives might encounter the same obstacles that have hampered the delivery of other humanitarian relief into Gaza, including major delays and logistical difficulties.Â
A WHO official cautioned, “The destruction of Gaza’s health care system will make any vaccination program an enormous challenge.” The company, however, argues that medical help is not subject to any limitations. A later comment said, “An additional 60,000 polio vaccines will be delivered to vaccinate over one million children” in the next few weeks.
Disease Outbreaks on the Rise
According to the humanitarian group Oxfam, waterborne illnesses have already sickened a quarter of Gaza’s population. A water and sanitation specialist at Oxfam described the scenario as “a catastrophic health crisis unfolding in front of our eyes.” She said, “Polio is a waterborne illness, and it is directly related to the state of sanitation. People living near sewage puddles are flooding streets and neighbourhoods as a result of severely broken sanitation infrastructure.”
New pictures and satellite views highlight Gaza’s growing untreated sewage situation even further. The Sheikh Radwan Lagoon in northern Gaza, previously a source of pure rainfall, is one glaring illustration. Scientists say the lagoon is overflowing with tainted, unclean water—clearly from raw sewage. Many of the lagoon’s neighbours have complained about the smell, spilling wastewater, and rat presence. “Raw sewage is running into our property because of the overflowing Sheikh Radwan Lagoon,” a local claimed.
In a temporary camp, an aid worker also showed a video of sewage accumulating in a pond near displaced people. She called the odour “unendurable” and “overpowering.”
Several Health Crises Developing
Polio is simply one of the health emergencies Gaza faces. Compared to just 85 in the same period before the war, the UN organisation for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, revealed earlier this month an astonishing 40,000 instances of Hepatitis A in Gaza since the commencement of the war. Public health specialists also warn of a possible cholera outbreak, which may severely affect the already fragile population.
Emerging in the aftermath of the breakdown of the health system, doctors in Gaza are battling to control the rising numbers of dysentery, pneumonia, and serious skin illnesses. “The lack of a sanitation system entirely explains the spread of these bacterial diseases,” said a paediatric specialist. He underlined, among other things, “the mixing of clean groundwater and sewage, the severe overpopulation, the extreme heat, the lack of ventilation, the overpopulated tents, and the oversharing of toilets.”
Multiple Health Crises Emerging
According to UN estimates, since last autumn, the great majority of 2.3 million Gaza inhabitants have been internally displaced. A WHO official reports that many individuals live in shelters with just one toilet for every 600 persons. Disease thrives in this congestion mixed with inadequate sanitation.
The continuous war between Israel and Hamas has just made this humanitarian disaster worse. Starting an unparalleled attack on Israel on October 7, Hamas killed over 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 captives back to Gaza. Local health officials report that Israeli military actions in Gaza have claimed the lives of more than 40,200 Palestinians since then.
Gaza’s territory is in increasing catastrophe as its infrastructure for sanitation and healthcare is devastated. Millions of people urgently need help from the spread of illnesses, the collapse of basic services, and the lack of access to humanitarian supplies. The issue will worsen without a quick response, endangering many lives.
