EBN- Mounds of trash rotting in the heat are piling up close to where displaced people are sheltering in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said.
UNRWA spokeswoman Louise Wateridge said that a pile of waste weighing an estimated 100,000 tonnes was building up near people’s tents in central Gaza.
“It’s among the population, and it’s building up without anywhere to go. It just keeps getting worse. And with the temperatures rising, it’s really adding misery to the living conditions here,” she added.
Israel has refused repeated requests to allow UNRWA to empty the main landfill sites, she said, meaning temporary ones are emerging.
Even if permission is granted, Wateridge said, UNRWA’s humanitarian missions, such as trash collection, have all but halted due to Israeli refusals to allow fuel imports.
Wateridge, who arrived back in Gaza on Thursday after a four-week absence, said the situation had deteriorated significantly. She described the living conditions as “unbearable” with people sweltering under plastic sheets and cowering in bombed out buildings.
The World Health Organization’s Tarik Jašarević said the trash, along with the rising heat, a lack of clean drinking water and sanitation services, was adding to disease risks.
