The view from Al Jazeera journalists of the additional trauma adding to the Gazans long term suffering as Storm Byron drowns their fragile existence:
Heavy rains flood tents sheltering the displaced, heaping misery on Gaza
Flooding worsens the crisis for Palestinian families, as an acute Israeli-enforced aid shortage threatens those uprooted multiple times by the genocidal war.
Heavy rain floods the Abu Marhil Camp in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Heavy rainfall in advance of Storm Byron began before dawn on Wednesday, submerging thousands of tents in several areas across the besieged and bombarded territory.
Palestinian Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal warned in a video statement of an “imminent humanitarian disaster” resulting from the severe weather conditions.
On Tuesday, the Gaza Government Media Office warned that a polar low-pressure system would affect the enclave from Wednesday until Friday evening, threatening hundreds of thousands of displaced families.
Most municipal wastewater networks in Gaza are destroyed or severely damaged by Israel, so any floodwater from the storm is highly likely to mix with raw sewage, significantly raising the spread of diseases like dysentery and cholera.
With rubbish collection largely halted, vast piles of solid waste have accumulated across the besieged enclave, meaning that heavy rains could mobilise medical waste, plastics, animal remains and debris into areas where displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
Groundwater resources that are tapped by residents could also be contaminated, while surface flooding could stagnate in some areas instead of receding since stormwater drainage and pumping stations are offline.
Basal said aid entering Gaza still falls far short of meeting the needs of the territory’s 2.4 million residents, who are facing a severe humanitarian crisis, and called for immediate international action.
According to earlier data from the media office, Gaza requires about 300,000 tents and prefabricated housing units to meet the most basic shelter needs of Palestinians after Israel destroyed infrastructure over two years of the genocidal war.
Rainfall began before dawn on Wednesday, submerging thousands of tents in several areas across the enclave. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Nearly 850,000 people, currently sheltering in 761 displacement sites in the Gaza Strip, face the highest risk of flooding this week, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Three days of cold thunderstorms are expected to hit Palestine starting from Wednesday, the Palestinian Meteorological Department has warned. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Previous storms have contaminated displacement sites with sewage and solid waste, swept away families’ tents, and forced them out of makeshift shelters. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Gusts will reach speeds of about 50km/h (31mph), accompanied by a drop in temperatures and heavy rain across most of Gaza, including occasional icy hail, with conditions continuing overnight, according to the Palestinian Meteorological Department. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Flooded tents in Abu Marhil Camp in the Zeitoun neighbourhood. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Gaza requires about 300,000 tents and prefabricated housing units to meet the most basic shelter needs of Palestinians after Israel destroyed infrastructure over two years of the genocidal war. [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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