Gaza is battling to tackle deadly pollution levels as efforts are hampered by continued conflict

Earlier this year, it looked as though Gaza’s efforts to tackle pollution had borne fruit, after a damning UN report in 2012. But recent conflict has obliterated any progress, writes Bel Trew

Raw sewage flowing near the main Gaza Strip power plant, serving the Hamas-run Palestinian occupied territories, south of Gaza City in 2019 (AFP via Getty Images)

In early May, Gaza’s top water officials did a tour of new facilities and declared that the hard work had paid off: Gaza could no longer be considered “uninhabitable” because of its water and sewage crisis.

A week later, a devastating 11-day war between Palestinian militants and Israel’s army erupted, and that notion quite literally blew up.

Home to 2 million people, Gaza has suffered under a 14-year long Israeli and Egyptian blockade in place since the militant group Hamas violently seized control of the strip. Since then, four wars between militants and Israel have also battered vital infrastructure.