Whether Trump's plan is practical or not, one thing is clear: the current environmental situation in Gaza directly threatens not only the residents of the Gaza Strip, but also Israel and, above all, the residents of the surrounding area.
By Liraz Rimon, Zavit – Science and Environmental News Agency
When presenting his plan to evacuate the Gaza Strip from its residents, US President Donald Trump described the current situation in Gaza as a wasteland. Even if there is disagreement about the extent of the damage in the Strip following the war, there is no denying that the situation in the Strip corresponds to the president's definition. Although most attention is directed to the security threat, a series of serious environmental hazards pose a real threat not only to the population of Gaza itself, but also to the citizens of the State of Israel and, first and foremost, to the residents of the surrounding area and the western Negev. These threats include a series of serious health hazards, including diseases and infections, which cannot be prevented by military maneuvers, and once they break out, will be very difficult to treat and prevent.
"It is difficult to accurately assess the extent of the damage in the Strip, but everyone agrees that it is an enormous destruction that will require decades just to clear it," says Galit Cohen, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and who served as Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2021. "It is important to understand that from an environmental perspective, and with an emphasis on the negative effects of the situation, Israel and the Gaza Strip are one. What happens there affects us almost immediately, and first and foremost the surrounding settlements," explains Cohen. "Therefore, no matter what our opinion of the Gazans is, Israel has a very great interest in rehabilitating the Strip with a long-term solution, which will prevent the risks there from penetrating into the country's territory."
The almost complete destruction of infrastructure in the Strip is reflected in a wide range of health and environmental risks. "When the population begins to return to the destroyed areas, the removal of the rubble will expose bodies – both human and animal. Without evacuation and burial infrastructure, there is an immediate danger of epidemics and extremely serious infections that could spread to Israel at record speed, especially with rising temperatures that will both accelerate the decomposition of the bodies and bring flies and mosquitoes that transmit diseases," explains Cohen. "This is an immediate risk to soldiers inside the Strip and to residents of the surrounding areas in nearby and more distant settlements."
Arava Institute report Published in June 2024, it reviews the range of environmental hazards and dangers following the Iron Sword War. Among other things, the report addresses the consequences of damage to water infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and buildings.
Infectious diseases
The destruction of water and sewage infrastructure creates an immediate danger of contamination entering the groundwater. With no water supply infrastructure, many residents in the Gaza Strip rely on digging septic tanks and are exposed to contaminated water that increases the risk of outbreaks of infectious intestinal diseases and even cholera. "Israel has a very great interest in preventing the outbreak of such diseases. Even if we put aside for a moment the suffering of the local population, the risk of such terrible epidemics spreading into Israeli territory is immediate," explains Cohen.
If diseases break out, there is currently no body in the Strip that can treat and prevent them. Most hospitals were bombed and are only partially functioning. The destruction of the electrical infrastructure prevents basic sanitary capacity and makes it difficult to provide preventive care, such as vaccinations. "It is clear that it is impossible to work with Hamas, which currently controls the Strip," says Cohen. "On the other hand, as long as there is no agreed-upon body to take over the management of the Strip, the dangers will only increase."
According to the report, before the war, there was a significant increase in the adoption of solar energy in Gaza, with the number of solar panel sites increasing from just 12 in 2012 to 8,760 in 2022, accounting for 20 percent of Gazan families using solar energy. Today, the vast majority of this infrastructure has been completely destroyed. Gaza’s electricity infrastructure has reverted to relying on polluting fuels, which Israel transfers to the Strip. The significant use of generators and fuel-based infrastructure significantly increases the risk of breathing pollutants – even in Israel.
"Another and equally serious problem is waste management. There are currently no means of waste disposal in Gaza, and their solution is incineration. It is a polluting and dangerous process – which of course does not remain within the borders of the Strip," explains Cohen. By April 2024, about 37 million tons of waste had accumulated in Gaza, and estimates are that it will take about 14 years to clear it, while a large amount of it may be toxic. To understand the risk, Report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection Published in December 2024, reveals that the assessment Mortality in Israel due to air pollution It is about 5,000 people a year, twice the previous estimate, and this is before calculating the infections from the fires in Gaza, which bring with them additional heavy pollution.
Sewage from Gaza on the coast of Israel
According to the report, during the war, Israel used more than 89,000 tons of explosives, to which must be added the amount of explosives used by Hamas. The explosive remnants include Hazardous Materials"It is important to understand that even in this case, the contamination does not necessarily remain within the borders of the Strip," says Cohen, explaining that this could harm health and the ability to restore local agriculture following soil contamination.
In addition, immediately after the war began, the sewage treatment plant in the Gaza Strip, which was based on solar energy, was shut down, leading to a huge flow of sewage into the sea. "The sewage flows into the sea and reaches our beaches, and this already led to the shutdown of the desalination plant in Ashkelon at the beginning of the war," she says. "Right now, there is no discharge into the sea because there is not even a sewage collection system there, and it flows through the streets and seeps into the ground, but as soon as the residents start to restore the sewage system without a sewage treatment plant - all the sewage will return to the sea, with all the consequences that this will have for us." Israel relies on the Mediterranean Sea as a significant economic source and as a source of recreation and leisure. The discharge of sewage from Gaza could pollute the beaches, harm fish (including edible fish) and, as mentioned, disable desalination plants in Israel again.
Long-term vision
Alongside the enormous risks posed by the Gaza Strip, there are also plenty of economic and technological opportunities. "The potential in Gaza is enormous, even for Israeli companies that specialize in 'off-grid' solutions for supplying renewable energy, such as solar panels, biogas systems for converting household waste into electricity, and more. These are excellent solutions that are already being implemented in African countries and enable a basic and immediate solution for managing households, without large infrastructures for electricity or even sewage," explains Cohen. "But for this to happen, a long-term political solution is first required that will ensure the viability of the investment. If the war resumes again, even in a few years, then all this infrastructure will be destroyed again." According to Cohen, at a meeting held by the INSS in December 2023 with the participation of representatives of investors and countries interested in taking part in the reconstruction of the Strip "the day after" Hamas rule, the representatives explicitly said that without a long-term plan to which Israel would agree, they would not take any action, with the understanding that there is a high probability that any such investment will go down the drain in the next round of fighting.
"It is impossible to disconnect the connection between the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and a political-state move that will determine how Israel wants to see this place in the coming years. There must be someone who will manage it and who can be worked with. It is clear that it is not Hamas; the question is who is?" says Cohen. "Israel is the one that must make the decision and begin to act, not only out of a desire to reconstruct the Gaza Strip, but first and foremost out of a desire to prevent the serious risks that threaten us from there," she concludes.
"Semolina. There are no means of waste disposal in Gaza today, and their solution is incineration. It is a polluting and dangerous process – which of course does not remain within the borders of the Strip," explains Cohen. By April 2024, about 37 million tons of waste had accumulated in Gaza, and estimates are that it will take about 14 years to clear it, while a large amount of it may be toxic. To understand the risk, Report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection Published in December 2024, reveals that the assessment Mortality in Israel due to air pollution It is about 5,000 people a year, twice the previous estimate, and this is before calculating the infections from the fires in Gaza, which bring with them additional heavy pollution.
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