By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Israel’s one-year-old genocide killed and injured thousands and caused unprecedented destruction leading to a record environmental damage.

One year into its genocide on Gaza, Israel not only brought unaccountable deaths of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip but also brought on record environmental damage.

Bombs Dropped on Gaza

The Gaza government media office stated on the 200th day of the genocide on Gaza that the Israeli occupation army had dropped 75,000 tons of bombs on the besieged Strip, almost six times the amount dropped on Hiroshima in World War II, Anadolu news agency reported.

The news agency quoted a study conducted by Queen Mary University in London in which it revealed that “between 54% to 66% of the buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed in Israeli attacks.”

According to the study, the Israeli attacks “also caused between 420,000 to 652,000 tons of CO2 emissions in the first 120 days of 2024 alone—surpassing the annual carbon emissions of 26 countries and regions.”

Israel Destroys ‘almost 80% of Agricultural Lands’ Vital to Survival in Gaza – Euro-Med Rights Group

Use of White Phosphorus Bombs

Israel has used banned white phosphorus bombs in densely populated areas in Gaza, which has devastating effects on humans and the environment alike.  

White phosphorus is a substance that burns at very high temperatures when exposed to air, can continue to burn inside flesh, causes horrific pain and serious injury, and cannot be extinguished by water.

Phosphorous bombs are internationally prohibited under the Geneva Convention of 1980, which prohibits the use of white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against humans and the environment.

The Wall Street Journal said on February 15 that the US State Department is investigating the use of white phosphorus by the Israeli occupation forces in its raids on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

The newspaper explained that the investigation aims to determine whether the weapons provided by the US to Israel were improperly used to kill civilians.

In parallel, Amnesty International said that its Crisis Evidence Laboratory verified that the Israeli military units striking Gaza were equipped with white phosphorus artillery shells.

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Water as Weapon of War

Israel has targeted intentionally during the one-year genocide on Gaza the infrastructure of the Strip to make life unlivable for Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

One of the heavily targeted infrastructures are power and water lines, leaving Palestinians of the tiny strip in absolute darkness and suffering from a serious water crisis.  

The United Nations Refugees and Works Agency (UNRWA) stated that “by the end of the first eight months of the conflict, around 67% of water and sanitation facilities and infrastructure had been destroyed or damaged,” according to Anadolu.

In July, OXFAM accused Israel of using water as a weapon of war “showing disregard for human life and international law.”

An OXFAM report titled ‘Water War Crimes’ revealed, “Israel’s cutting of external water supply, systematic destruction of water facilities and deliberate aid obstruction have reduced the amount of water available in Gaza by 94% to 4.74 litres a day per person – just under a third of the recommended minimum in emergencies and less than a single toilet flush.”  

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Waste Collection 

PAX for Peace accentuated, in a report published in June, the buildup of “hundreds of thousands of tons of solid waste” in the Gaza Strip.

The Dutch non-governmental organization attributed this to “damaged waste collection vehicles and restricted access to waste collection areas by the Israeli army,” Anadolu quoted the NGO as saying.  

Statistics by the Gaza Municipality confirm that at least 100,000 tons of solid waste have piled up across the enclave.

With at least 85% of Gaza’s population displaced and 62% of the enclave’s buildings turned into rubble, the Strip has become fertile soil for the spread of diseases such as Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C due to “medical waste, chemicals and radioactive materials leaching into the soil and underground water,” Anadolu reported.

In that regard, the Gaza Health Ministry stated on March 4 that nearly “one million cases of infectious diseases had been recorded in the enclave,” with a collapsed health system making treatment unattainable for the population in Gaza.

Carbon Emissions 

UNRWA revealed in March in an alert regarding the devastating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip that 23 million tons of debris ‘will take years to clear” due to Israel’s continuous war on the Strip.

The UN predicts that around 156,000 and 200,000 buildings including civilian homes, hospitals and schools have been damaged or totally destroyed.

“The reconstruction of these structures is expected to result in 46.8 million to 60 million tons of CO2 emissions—equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 135 countries and regions and comparable to the emissions of Sweden and Portugal combined,” Anadolu reported.

US Investigates Israel’s Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza – WSJ

Genocide Continues

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health,  41,870 Palestinians have been killed, and 97,166 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety. 

(Anadolu, PC)