DEIR AL-BALAH: Children in sandals trudge through water contaminated with sewage and scale growing mounds of garbage in Gaza’s crowded tent camps for displaced families. People relieve themselves in burlap-covered pits, with nowhere nearby to wash their hands.
In the stifling summer heat, Palestinians say the odor and filth surrounding them is just another inescapable reality of war — like pangs of hunger or sounds of bombing.
The territory’s ability to dispose of garbage, treat sewage and deliver clean water has been virtually decimated by eight brutal months of war between Israel and Hamas. This has made grim living conditions worse and raised health risks for hundreds of thousands of people deprived of adequate shelter, food and medicine, aid groups say.
Hepatitis A cases are on the rise, and doctors fear that as warmer weather arrives, an outbreak of cholera is increasingly likely without dramatic changes to living conditions. The UN, aid groups and local officials are scrambling to build latrines, repair water lines and bring desalination plants back online.
COGAT, the Israeli military body coordinating humanitarian aid efforts, said it’s engaging in efforts to improve the “hygiene situation.” But relief can’t come soon enough.
“Flies are in our food,” said Adel Dalloul, a 21-year-old whose family settled in a beach tent camp near the central Gaza city of Nuseirat. They wound up there after fleeing the southern city of Rafah, where they landed after leaving their northern Gaza home. “If you try to sleep, flies, insects and cockroaches are all over you.”
Over a million Palestinians had been living in hastily assembled tent camps in Rafah before Israel invaded in May. Since fleeing Rafah, many have taken shelter in even more crowded and unsanitary areas across southern and central Gaza that doctors describe as breeding grounds for disease — especially as temperatures regularly reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).
“The stench in Gaza is enough to make you kind of immediately nauseous,” said Sam Rose, a director at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Conditions are exacting an emotional toll, too.
Anwar Al-Hurkali, who lives with his family in a tent camp in the central Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah, said he can’t sleep for fear of scorpions and rodents. He doesn’t let his children leave their tent, he said, worrying they’ll get sick from pollution and mosquitoes.
“We cannot stand the smell of sewage,” he said. “It is killing us.”
Basic services breakdown
The UN estimates nearly 70 percent of Gaza’s water and sanitation plants have been destroyed or damaged by Israel’s heavy bombardment. That includes all five of the territory’s wastewater treatment facilities, plus water desalination plants, sewage pumping stations, wells and reservoirs.
The employees who once managed municipal water and waste systems have been displaced, and some killed, officials say. This month, an Israeli strike in Gaza City killed five government employees repairing water wells, the city said.
Despite staffing shortages and damaged equipment, some desalination plants and sewage pumps are working, but they’re hampered by lack of fuel, aid workers say.
A UN assessment of two Deir Al-Balah tent camps found in early June that people’s daily water consumption — including drinking, washing and cooking — averaged under 2 liters (about 67 ounces), far lower than the recommended 15 liters a day.
COGAT said it’s coordinating with the UN to repair sewage facilities and Gaza’s water system. Israel has opened three water lines “pumping millions of liters daily” into Gaza, it said.
But people often wait hours in line to collect potable water from delivery trucks, hauling back to their families whatever they can carry. The scarcity means families often wash with dirty water.
This week, Dalloul said, he lined up for water from a vendor. “We discovered that it was salty, polluted, and full of germs. We found worms in the water. I had been drinking from it,” he said. “I had gastrointestinal problems and diarrhea, and my stomach hurts until this moment.”
The World Health Organization declared an outbreak of Hepatitis A that, as of early June, had led to 81,700 reported cases of jaundice — a common symptom. The disease spreads primarily when uninfected people consume water or food contaminated with fecal matter.
Because wastewater treatment plants have shut down, untreated sewage is seeping into the ground or being pumped into the Mediterranean Sea, where tides move north toward Israel.
“If there are bad water conditions and polluted groundwater in Gaza, then this is an issue for Israel,” said Rose, of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. “It has in the past prompted actions by Israel to try and ameliorate the situation.”
COGAT said it’s working on “improving waste management processes” and examining proposals to establish new dumps and allow more garbage trucks into Gaza.
Where can garbage go?
Standing barefoot on a street in the Nuseirat refugee camp, 62-year-old Abu Shadi Afana compared the pile of garbage next to him to a “waterfall.” He said trucks continue to dump rubbish even though families live in tents nearby.
“There is no one to provide us with a tent, food, or drink, and on top of all of this, we live in garbage?” Afana said. Trash attracts bugs he’s never seen before in Gaza — small insects that stick to his skin. When he lies down, he said, he feels like they’re “eating his face.”
There are few other places for the garbage to go. When Israel’s military took control of a 1-kilometer (0.6-mile) buffer zone along its border with Gaza, two main landfills east of the cities of Khan Younis and Gaza City became off-limits.
In their absence, informal landfills have developed. Displaced Palestinians running out of areas to shelter say they’ve had little choice but to pitch tents near trash piles.
Satellite images from Planet Labs analyzed by The Associated Press show that an informal landfill in Khan Younis that sprung up after Oct. 7 appears to have doubled in length since January. Since the Rafah evacuation, a tent city has sprung up around the landfill, with Palestinians living between piles of garbage.
Cholera fears
Doctors in Gaza fear cholera may be on the horizon.
“The crowded conditions, the lack of water, the heat, the poor sanitation — these are the preconditions of cholera,” said Joanne Perry, a doctor working in southern Gaza with Doctors Without Borders.
Most patients have illnesses or infections caused by poor sanitation, she said. Scabies, gastrointestinal illnesses and rashes are common. Over 485,000 diarrhea cases have been reported since the war’s start, WHO says.
“When we go to the hospital to ask for medicine for diarrhea, they tell us it is not available, and I go to buy it outside the hospital,” Al-Hurkali said. “But where do I get the money?”
COGAT says it’s coordinating delivery of vaccines and medical supplies and is in daily contact with Gaza health officials. COGAT is “unaware of any authentic, verified report of unusual illnesses other than viral illnesses,” it said.
With efforts stalled to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Dalloul says he’s lost hope that help is on the way.
“I am 21 years old. I am supposed to start my life,” he said. “Now I just live in front of the garbage.”
In the searing heat of the Gaza summer, Palestinians are surrounded by sewage and garbage
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In the searing heat of the Gaza summer, Palestinians are surrounded by sewage and garbage
- Children trudge through water contaminated with sewage and scale growing mounds of garbage in Gaza’s tent camps for displaced families
- Aid groups say it’s made grim living conditions worse and raised health risks for hundreds of thousands of people
American strike kills Daesh leader in Syria
- The announcement of the latest strike came a day after the US said it had this year doubled the number of troops it has in Syria as part of the anti-IS fight
WASHINGTON: American forces killed a Daesh leader and another of the group’s members in a strike in Syria, the US military said on Friday.
Washington has stepped up military action against the extremist group since the fall of Bashar Assad’s government earlier this month, hitting areas that were shielded by Syrian and Russian air defenses before a lightning offensive by rebels who now control the country.
The strike took place on Thursday in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, killing Daesh leader “Abu Yusif” and another operative, the US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said on social media, without providing further details on the two terrorists. “This airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks,” CENTCOM said.
The strike “was conducted in an area formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians,” it added.
The US has for years carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent a resurgence of Daesh but has launched dozens of strikes since Assad’s fall.
On Dec. 8 — the day militants took the capital Damascus — Washington announced strikes on more than 75 Daesh targets that CENTCOM said were aimed at ensuring it “does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria.”
And on Monday, CENTCOM said US forces killed 12 extremists from the group in strikes it said were carried out “in former regime and Russian-controlled areas.”
The announcement of the latest strike came a day after the US said it had this year doubled the number of troops it has in Syria as part of the anti-IS fight.
The US had for years said it has some 900 military personnel in the country as part of international efforts against the extremist group, which seized swathes of territory there and in neighboring Iraq before being defeated by local forces backed by a US-led air campaign.
But there are now “approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria” and have been for at least a few months, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists, saying he had just received the updated figure.
Saudi Arabia, OIC welcome UN resolution seeking ICJ advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations
- UN body voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to adopt the resolution
- OIC commended the efforts of Norway and other co-sponsoring countries for championing the resolution
RIYADH: The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday welcomed the UN General Assembly's adoption of a resolution requesting an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations in Gaza, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Saudi Arabia expressed gratitude to nations that supported the resolution, emphasizing its aim to assist the Palestinian people amidst their ongoing challenges.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation also expressed on Friday its support for the UN General Assembly’s recent approval of the resolution.
The UN body voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to adopt the resolution, which called on the ICJ to issue an advisory opinion on Israel’s humanitarian obligations to ensure and facilitate the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid necessary for the survival of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The resolution, drafted by Norway, was adopted with 137 member states voting in favor. Israel, the US and 10 other countries voted against it, and 22 abstained.
The OIC commended the efforts of Norway and other co-sponsoring countries for championing the resolution, SPA added.
In a statement, the OIC said Israel’s policies, including legislation impacting the presence, operations, and immunities of the UN and its agencies — such as the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees — and other international entities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, contravene the UN Charter and its resolutions.
“These actions deprive the Palestinian people of essential assistance and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis they are experiencing,” the organization stated.
The OIC also welcomed the UN General Assembly’s adoption of a resolution affirming the “permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.”
Reiterating its commitment to Palestinian rights, the OIC urged all states, international organizations, and UN agencies to work toward ending Israel’s occupation and enabling Palestinians to realize their right to self-determination.
The organization called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Lebanese foreign minister: Israeli violations harm efforts to keep ceasefire
- More bodies recovered in Haret Hreik nearly 3 months after Israel’s deadly airstrikes
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s caretaker foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, warned on Friday that continuing Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty undermined efforts to reinforce the ceasefire and diffuse tensions on the southern border.
He called on Western countries to “rapidly contribute to rebuilding what the Israeli war destroyed in Lebanon.”
Bou Habib had received calls from Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office Hamish Falconer, European Commissioner for Preparedness, Crisis Management and Equality Hadja Lahbib, and European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica.
FASTFACT
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said that 2024 was a challenging year for Lebanon.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the discussion between Bou Habib and European officials focused on “ongoing Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
The minister promised to “seek to increase humanitarian assistance provided by the EU to Lebanon, enabling the country to address the war’s repercussions and impacts.”
Suica emphasized “the importance of supporting the Lebanese state’s capabilities, as this contributes to achieving long-term national stability.”
She also promised “continued European assistance to Lebanon, provided it is a priority on the EU’s agenda.”
Suica affirmed “the importance of electing a president and undertaking economic reforms in Lebanon, in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, so that the EU could provide additional support.”
Also on Friday, the army chief said it remained “one of the few steadfast institutions in Lebanon, the rock of the nation, and one of the most critical factors ensuring its continuity.”
Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun was addressing first-year officer cadets at the military academy who recently joined the military institution as part of efforts to strengthen the Lebanese army’s capabilities to carry out its missions in the south and other regions.
Addressing the cadets, Gen. Aoun said that on graduation, they would “become a strength factor for the military units deployed across Lebanon and contribute to enhancing their professional performance, which has earned the trust of both Lebanese citizens and friendly nations.”
He added that Lebanon “protects the sects, not the other way around.”
Gen. Aoun urged the cadets to “disregard rumors aimed at undermining the army.”
He said: “Give your utmost effort, as your journey at the military academy is challenging but not impossible. Remember that armies are built for times of hardship, and sacrifice is our destiny, even to the point of martyrdom, should duty call. Let your party be Lebanon and your sect the military uniform.”
In other developments on Friday, Israeli forces continued their land violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Israeli troops directed heavy machine-gun fire toward the valleys between Qabrikha and Wadi Al-Salouqi near Ghandourieh, south of the Litani River.
The targeted area is not part of the region that remains occupied by Israel.
Israeli artillery bombed the outskirts of Halta, while the remaining houses in the border village of Kfarkila were detonated and bulldozed, sending tremors through neighboring areas.
Israeli forces also detonated houses located between the border villages of Blida and Aitaroun.
On Friday, Israeli forces withdrew from Bani Hayyan toward Markaba after they entered the area last Wednesday and bulldozed, detonated, and destroyed houses and roads.
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee reiterated via social media his reminder to “the residents of southern Lebanon that, until further notice, movement is prohibited south of a line of villages stretching from Mansouri to Shebaa and its surroundings.”
The restricted zone encompasses 63 border villages located south of this line.
UNIFIL and Lebanese army units were deployed in the valleys along the Litani River between Deir Seryan, Alman, El Qsair, Yohmor Al-Shaqif, and Zawtar Al-Sharqiya, while Israeli reconnaissance drones flew at low altitudes over the area.
Based on recommendations from the committee responsible for overseeing the ceasefire agreement, a security source said that “fixed checkpoints and posts for the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL will be established south of the Litani River, from Marjayoun to Qasmiyeh.”
Meanwhile, the recovery of bodies from Israeli attacks on Lebanon continued.
Civil Defense personnel in the Haret Hreik area of Beirut’s southern suburb retrieved three bodies in the morning from among seven missing persons still being searched for.
These people were killed in the heavy airstrikes that assassinated Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Sept. 27.
The bodies are set to undergo DNA testing to confirm their identities.
Civil Defense teams also recovered the body of a Syrian woman in the southern town of Khiam, which the Lebanese army entered after the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The woman had been working at a dairy factory in the town when an Israeli air raid struck it.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said that 2024 was a challenging year for Lebanon.
She said in a statement: “Far too many lives were lost, devastated and disrupted. The conflict, which inflicted untold suffering and trauma, has left deep wounds, trauma and widespread destruction.”
“The arduous healing process, picking up the pieces and rebuilding, has just begun.
“While considerable work lies ahead to ensure that the ceasefire arrangement endures and yields the dividends of security and stability that the Lebanese people deserve, 2025 offers the promise of opportunity and reason for hope,” she said.
Hennis-Plasschaert said “the UN continues to stand by Lebanon and its people through challenging times.”
On Thursday evening, merchants held a protest in the central commercial market of Nabatieh city, which Israeli airstrikes had destroyed.
They called on “the Lebanese government and relevant departments to expedite the payment of compensation to institutions, factories, commercial shops, self-employed individuals, pharmacies, poultry, beekeeping and livestock industries, as well as compensation for damaged contents, to restore the economic wheel across the south.”
Moussa Shmeisani, head of the Nabatieh Merchants Association, stressed the need to “speed up the removal of the rubble and debris from the heart of Nabatieh, approve settlements and grant tax exemptions for institutions and shops, to mitigate the losses suffered by merchants as a result of the aggression.”
‘We admire Saudi vision, aspire for similar progress in Syria,’ says Al-Sharaa
- Head of HTS says he seeks no dominance over Lebanon
DAMASCUS: Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the head of the new Syrian administration, praised progress made by Saudi Arabia and neighboring Gulf countries in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat published on Friday.
Speaking to the newspaper’s Bissane El-Cheikh at the Presidential Palace in Damascus on Thursday, he lauded the Gulf’s development, saying: “We admire the development in Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia’s bold plans and vision, and we aspire to achieve similar progress for Syria.”
He added: “There are many opportunities for cooperation, especially in economic and developmental areas, where we can align our goals.”
During the interview, he also said that “the Syrian revolution ended with the regime's fall, and we will not allow it to spread elsewhere.”
Al-Sharaa stressed that Syria “will not be used to attack or destabilize any Arab or Gulf country.”
He said the Syrian opposition’s actions had “set the Iranian project in the region back by 40 years.”
Asked why Syria has yet to send a direct message to the Gulf and major Arab nations, Al-Sharaa responded by saying that his country has much to say to its Arab neighbors.
“Syria had become a platform for Iran to control key Arab capitals, spread wars, and destabilize the Gulf with drugs like Captagon,” he said.
He added: “By removing Iranian militias and closing Syria to Iranian influence, we’ve served the region’s interests—achieving what diplomacy and external pressure could not, with minimal losses.”
Al-Sharaa also criticized efforts to restore ties with the former Syrian regime, including its return to the Arab League in exchange for concessions.
“We were confident this would fail because we knew the regime would not make any genuine concessions or approach these overtures in good faith,” he said.
He claimed that during a meeting with Jordanian officials, the former regime was asked why it insisted on exporting Captagon to Jordan.
“The response was that it would not stop unless sanctions were lifted," Al-Sharaa said, adding “this is not how the regime operates.”
He emphasized that Gulf strategic security has since improved. “Today, the Iranian project in the region has been pushed back 40 years, making the Gulf more secure and stable.”
When asked if he would give reassurances on Syria not becoming a refuge for certain figures, Al-Sharaa dismissed concerns about hosting figures who cause concern for some Arab nations, saying Syria will not become a haven for controversial individuals.
“We are now focused on state-building. The revolution ended with the regime's fall, and we will not allow it to spread elsewhere. Syria will not be a platform to threaten or unsettle any Arab or Gulf country,” he said.
Al-Sharaa stressed that Syria seeks to rebuild and strengthen ties with Arab nations. “Syria is tired of wars and being used for others’ agendas. We want to restore trust and rebuild our country as part of the Arab world.”
On Syria’s relationship with its neighbor Lebanon, Al-Sharaa acknowledged concerns raised by Lebanese counterparts about him reaching Damascus, fearing it could strengthen one faction over another in Lebanon.
“We are not seeking any form of dominance over Lebanon,” he said. “We want a relationship based on mutual respect and exchange, without interfering in Lebanon’s internal affairs. We have enough work to do in our own country.”
Al-Sharaa emphasized Syria’s intention to maintain balanced relations, saying he aims “to stand equally with all Lebanese groups, and what pleases them, pleases us.”
Al-Sharaa was asked about a national dialogue conference and a new constitution to guide Syria’s future, and the mechanism that he plans to ensure inclusivity for all Syrians in the process, especially among the base of supporters and fighters who do not necessarily agree with his current moderate speech.
Al-Sharaa acknowledged differing opinions but emphasized he does not want to impose his personal views on Syrians.
“I believe in letting legal experts shape the relationship between citizens, with the law as the guide,” he said.
“Syria is diverse, and it's natural for there to be different opinions. This difference is healthy.”
Al-Sharaa stressed that the recent victory is for all Syrians, not one group over another.
“Even those we thought were loyal to the old regime expressed joy, as they had not been able to openly express their feelings before,” he noted.
He expressed confidence that Syrians, regardless of their background, are aware enough to protect their country.
“My aim is to reach a broad agreement and build a country where the rule of law helps resolve our differences,” Al-Sharaa concluded.
On the complex issue of forced disappearances and individuals missing in prisons and mass graves, Al-Sharaa said the previous regime was a criminal gang, not a political system.
“We fought a brutal group that committed crimes like arrests, forced disappearances, killings, displacement, starvation, chemical attacks, and torture,” he said.
He stressed that while the regime is gone, the focus should be on justice, not revenge.
“We must not approach this with a desire for vengeance,” he said.
Al-Sharaa stated that those responsible for crimes like the Saydnaya prison and chemical attacks must be held accountable.
“Their names are known and they must be pursued,” he said. He also affirmed that families have the right to file complaints against unknown perpetrators.
Al-Sharaa outlined efforts to address the issue of missing persons. “We’ve broken the barriers, and specialized organizations are now helping with this task,” he said.
A new ministry will be set up to track the fate of the missing, both the deceased and the living.
“This will also assist families with documents like death certificates and inheritance,” he added.
He acknowledged the challenge ahead but emphasized the need to uncover the truth. “This is a big task, but we must find the truth,” Al-Sharaa said.
When asked about hosting the interview at the People’s Palace, the same location where Bashar al-Assad once sat, Al-Sharaa responded with a light-hearted laugh.
“To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable at all,” he said. “But this is a place that should be open to the people, a site where they can visit and where children can play in these courtyards.”
* This article was originally published by Asharq Al-Awsat and can be read here.
Kurdish fighters in Syria face dual threats
- Suppressed for decades, the Kurds took advantage of the weakness of Bashar Assad’s government during the civil war
- But with the rise of the new authority following his ouster, they are left navigating a complex and uncertain future
BEIRUT: Kurdish fighters in northern Syria are increasingly under pressure from Turkish-backed armed groups while also fearing the new authorities in Damascus will upend their hard-won autonomy.
Suppressed for decades, the Kurds took advantage of the weakness of Bashar Assad’s government during the civil war, but with the rise of the new authority following his ouster, they are left navigating a complex and uncertain future.
As Islamist-led militants pressed their lightning 12-day offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, Turkish-backed fighters began a parallel operation against Kurdish-led forces in the north.
They quickly seized Tal Rifaat and Manbij, two key Kurdish-held areas in a 30-kilometer (17-mile) stretch along the Turkish border where Ankara wants to establish a so-called “security zone.”
Following a wave of fighting, a US-brokered truce took hold on December 11, although Kurdish forces say it has not been respected by Turkish forces in the area nor their proxies.
Kurdish fighters make up the bulk of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which was formed in 2015 and is seen as the Kurds’ de facto army.
The SDF spearheaded the fight that defeated Daesh group militants in Syria in 2019 and is still seen by the US as a “crucial” to prevent a militant resurgence in the area.
They have warned about a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab, which has become a symbol of the fight against IS.
On Tuesday, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi proposed setting up a “demilitarized zone” in Kobani under US supervision.
There are also US troops in Syria as part of an international coalition against the militants, whose numbers doubled earlier this year to around 2,000, the Pentagon said Thursday.
As well as relying on pro-Turkish fighters, Ankara has between 16,000 to 18,000 troops in northern Syria, Turkish officials say, indicating they are ready for deployment “east of the Euphrates” if Kurdish fighters don’t disarm.
But Turkiye’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan on Wednesday said there would be no need for Ankara to intervene if the new government was to “address this issue properly.”
Observers say Ankara wants to take advantage of the Syrian upheaval to push Kurdish forces away from the border zone, seeing them as “terrorists” over their ties with the PKK which has fought a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.
Since 2016, the Turkish military has launched several operations in northern Syria targeting the YPG (the People’s Protection Units), which makes up the bulk of the SDF.
Turkish troops have remained in a large stretch of land on the Syrian side of the border.
Syria’s Kurds have made several gestures of openness toward the new authorities in Damascus, fearing for the future of their autonomous region.
They have adopted three-starred independence flag used by the opposition that is now flying over Damascus, and said Wednesday they were canceling customs and other taxes on goods moving between their area and the rest of Syria.
HTS’ military chief Murhaf Abu Qasra, whose nom de guerre is Abu Hassan Al-Hamawi, said Tuesday Kurdish-held areas would be integrated under the new leadership because Syria “will not be divided.”
“The region currently controlled by the SDF will be integrated into the new administration of the country,” he said.
