The Destruction in Gaza is an Ecological Catastrophe
By anonymous
Nature knows no political frontiers. Rivers, plants and animals cross national borders, as do air and water, carrying with them various pollution and contagious diseases. Water can carry cholera, polio and many more illnesses through its currents, and no costume control can halt their flow. Mosquitos, for instance, can carry malaria, West Nile fever and even dengue fever, without stopping at a checkpoint.
The war results in severe consequences on cross-regional natural resources and on life-sustaining ecosystems in our region. It also causes a heavily negative impact on the local possibility to adapt in face of climate change and develop climate resilience. Following the war, many of the life sustaining and essentials have collapsed. This collapse has a vast effect on the health of both the population and nature. Most of the life-sustaining systems in Gaza – water, sewage, management of waste, energy and the ecological system – have by now collapsed. This collapse has a vast impact on the health of both the population and the environment. This collapse has also accelerated the impacts of climate change, which are already the biggest challenge in our region in the long run.
Even before the 7th of October 2023, almost all water resources in the Gaza strip were contaminated and deemed unsafe to consume. Before the war, the main resources of water were groundwater, desalinated water and water supplied from Egypt and Israel. Since the start of the war, following the attack on resources, mainly electricity, the desalination of water has stopped. The transfer of water from Israel has reduced drastically and the use of wells has been severely damaged due to the destruction of access ways and electricity. There is at the moment an acute lack of drinkable water in Gaza.
Palestinian youth and children help push a donkey cart carrying drinking water in various containers. Gaza, April 12, 2025. Photo: Fadi Thabet (for UNRWA)
The water supply in Gaza, as well as additional aspects of public health, is also threatened by the fact that since the beginning of the war, sewage systems in the Gaza Strip have not been functioning. The sewage is many times diverted to reservoirs, some of which are at risk of collapse. In certain areas, there is widespread but insufficient use of cesspits, which are also at risk of collapse. In addition, there is extensive surface flow of raw sewage in populated areas, posing an immediate risk of exposure of the population to sewage and wastewater, including exposure through contact or inhalation to bacteria and viruses. There is concern that sewage from cesspits and surface flows is seeping into groundwater, which in the Gaza area lies very close to the surface, thereby increasing the risk of contamination of drinking water. The immediate concern is biological contamination, which is joined by chemical contamination as another significant concern.
The lack of solid waste treatment has led to the accumulation of enormous waste piles, including hazardous waste, increasing the risk of disease spread and waste leaching into groundwater, which, as noted, lies close underneath the surface. There is a total absence of waste management which includes toxic, hazardous, and medical waste. In the absence of waste management, uncontrolled waste burning causes air pollution. Due to the lack of electricity, gas, or firewood for cooking, the primary fuel used for cooking in camps is plastic, the burning of which releases chemicals and causes air pollution. In addition, stray dogs roam around waste piles and may transmit diseases.
Tons of waste have accumulated near populated areas across Gaza posing catastrophic environmental and health risks. Gaza, June 25, 2024. Photo: Ashraf Amra (for UNRWA)
Another major environmental challenge is construction and demolition waste. Most buildings in Gaza were destroyed or damaged during the war, and there are currently more than 53 million tons of construction and infrastructure debris amassed in the Strip. Because many buildings contained asbestos, asbestos dust is present at demolition sites and poses a particularly dangerous inhalation hazard. Severe air pollution from bombardments and waste burning is dangerous to health and primarily affects vulnerable populations such as the elderly, people with chronic illnesses such as respiratory and heart diseases, pregnant women, infants, and children. Among the building ruins there are also heavy metals and unexploded munitions. In addition, countless human and animal bodies are buried beneath the rubble.
Over 53 million tons of construction and infrastructure debris. Destruction caused by Israeli bombing of Jabalia refugee camp, October 16, 2024. Photo: Hussein Jaber (for UNRWA)
In the energy sector, most electricity generation has been heavily damaged or halted, including power plants, generators and solar panels. Due to fuel shortages, even existing infrastructure is barely functioning. Accordingly, many basic health and environmental services that require energy have been disrupted, including water and sewage transport, waste collection, as well as health, education, and transportation services. According to the most recent data referring to the period immediately before the ceasefire that began on October 10, 2025, cooking requires the largest amount of household energy and constitutes a daily challenge. In the absence of infrastructure, the use of generators is widespread, but they are unreliable and polluting.
In Gaza, the ecosystem was damaged even before the war. Since 2023, approximately 90% of trees in agricultural orchards have been damaged or cut down, as have most wild trees. Together with significant marine pollution, there is an overall collapse of the ecosystem.
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges our region is facing. As early as 2021, more than two hundred of the world’s leading health and medical journals warned that climate change is the greatest threat to global public health. The Middle East is a climate change hotspot, characterized by warming above the global average, combined with water scarcity, droughts, and dense populations. In the summer of 2025, extreme heat prevailed across large parts of Israel as well as in Gaza. Extreme heat poses a health risk and is directly associated with increased mortality and morbidity, including a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, chronic diseases, and infectious diseases, particularly among the elderly, chronically ill individuals, infants, and children under the age of five. Negative fluid balance due to limited drinking increases vulnerability to dehydration, heatstroke, and kidney damage. It can also be assumed that malnutrition is a risk factor due to the weakening of all body systems, including temperature regulation mechanisms. Reaching food distribution centers during the summer required walking several kilometers in each direction, which was particularly challenging for vulnerable populations in all weather conditions and especially during extreme heat. In Gaza, there are no remaining means of protection from the heat.
The war has also devastated Gaza’s agricultural and natural environments. Israeli D9R Bulldozer and soldiers in Gaza, October 31, 2023. Photo: IDF Spokesperson Unit
If climate change is the most severe threat facing our world, the necessity of confronting it enables, and even compels, new possibilities and new frameworks for action. In July 2023, the summer before October 7, a report was published identifying the climate change challenge as an exceptional opportunity for regional cooperation, sustainable economic growth, and enormous opportunities in the fields of economics, agriculture, food, water, energy, and health, as well as for advancing regional political stability. Climate change does not stop because of wars, on the contrary: conflicts and wars weaken the ability to prepare for climate change and to build climate resilience. Even after the war, both the challenge and the opportunity remain. During the war, the environmental disaster and climate challenge in Gaza affected not only Palestinians in Gaza but everyone in the strip. For example, non-potable water and extreme heat harmed the health of hostages, and reports indicated that soldiers suffered severe dehydration. The environmental and health impacts in Gaza also extend into Israel, and their consequences will be felt for decades to come.
Looking forward to the future, equipped with a determination to “build back better” all that has been destroyed, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, in partnership with the Palestinian NGO Damour, recently published a proposal for transformative rehabilitation. The approach presented in this plan centers around sustainable, nature-based solutions and decentralized infrastructure. The approach is based on three stages: first, addressing essential and urgent needs, including access to critical water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure, the establishment of shelters and emergency services, and waste removal. In the second stage, building decentralized infrastructures powered by renewable solar energy, including energy infrastructure and appropriate water, sanitation, and hygiene systems in areas not connected to the central grid, alongside the development of local capacities, leadership, and community resilience, and joint thinking about solutions together with partners and activists on the ground. In the third stage, deep transformative change, including the promotion of environmental justice, ecological restoration, climate resilience development, and ensuring financial stability for sustainable infrastructure in the fields of environment and health. The Arava Institute’s activities in Gaza in these areas began even before the war, and included the successful introduction and operation of several off-grid, sustainable systems in Gaza, including atmospheric drinking water generation systems by Watergen, biological wastewater treatment systems by Lagoona, biogas, and solar energy. These solutions can help address basic health and environmental needs of the population, providing water, sewage systems, energy, enabling cooking and more, without generating environmental pollution. Ending the war and establishing a fundamental change in the political reality in Gaza are essential for safeguarding human and environmental health in our region in the near and distant future.