Palestinian municipalities in the Gaza Strip, yesterday, announced the halving of their services as a result of the energy and funding crisis in the besieged coastal enclave.
In a statement, the head of the Municipality of Gaza City, Nizar Hijazi, said that the “increasing humanitarian and environmental crisis pushed us to reduce our basic services by 50 percent.”
According to the PNN, the municipalities across the Gaza Strip are unable to afford the minimum range of services for residents.
Electricity is reduced to 4 hours a day and generators are not enough to treat even a fraction of Gaza’s wastewater. Water borne diseases are rising and sewage is flowing into the sea from this open pipe, then back into the streets. pic.twitter.com/U2ka0xitHi
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 13, 2018
Hijazi said that the municipalities closed large swathes of the beach “due to the contamination caused by pouring untreated sewage directly in to the sea as most of the treatment plants stopped working due to the lack of fuel and electricity.”
Head of Rafah Municipality, Sobhi Ridwan, said: “The donors who used to pay for the fuel stopped their payment since the start of this year.”
According to Ridwan,
“the donations sent to the municipalities were used to buy fuel for the clean water pumps, sewage treatment plants and trucks and lorries which collect garbage from the streets.”
only local power plant shut down for lack of fuel, hospital/health clinics shutting down & limited to emerggency operations only & now sewage treatment plant cannot operate https://t.co/Ge9XkeoVaO
— Leila (@ainiladra) February 22, 2018
There is a very clear retreat in the income of the municipalities due to the inability of Gaza residents to pay the monthly costs of services, and this because of the deteriorating situation, therein.
Due to the financial crisis hitting them, over the past months, Gaza municipalities have reduced payments to staff by 30 percent.
Ninety-seven percent of Gaza drinking water contaminated by sewage, salt, expert warns https://t.co/g3yhpVQPiW#Viña2018 #TwitterLockOut #اقاله_دياز_من_الهلال #FelizMiércoles #انا_من_جيل #ICC4Israel @UN @IntlCrimCourt #السحيمي_يطالب_باغلاق_المساجد #FelizLunes#FreeGaza pic.twitter.com/qqBFFRNaZI
— palestine.mylove (@QudsPalestine) February 21, 2018
Gaza has been under strict Israeli siege since mid-2007 and it was subjected to three major Israeli offensives during that period, heavily destroying its infrastructure.
(IMEMC, PC, Social Media)
