Researcher Reem Mansour, quoted by the Shehab news agency, warned that the aquifer that supplies drinking water to the territory is suffering severe contamination.

Mansour underscored that this situation has forced the population to seek unsafe sources such as brackish or contaminated water from wells and collect rainwater, which has increased the spread of diseases, including diarrhea and gastrointestinal infections.

Islam Al-Habeel, an environmental and chemical engineering specialist, warned that uncontrolled landfills also pose a serious threat to public health because they contain a highly toxic mixture of E. coli bacteria, viruses, pharmaceutical residues, heavy metals, toxic organic compounds, and microplastics.

Al-Habeel explained that the pollution is not limited to household and medical waste, but also includes remnants of Israeli projectiles, ammunition, and explosives.

Bahaa El-Din Al-Agha, Director General of Soil and Irrigation at the Gaza Agriculture Ministry, also denounced last month the environmental disaster caused by attacks from the neighboring state.

He noted that addressing this devastation will require many years and enormous financial investments estimated in the billions of dollars.

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