Sewage water from collapsed underground pipes covers an area by destroyed buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 8, 2024. AFP
Tens of thousands of people displaced by Israel's war on Gaza have sought shelter in Deir al-Balah, and city authorities said more than 700,000 people could be at risk from a "health and environmental crisis".
"Deir al-Balah municipality announces the halt of water waste pumping stations because stocks of fuel necessary for their functioning are exhausted," said a city statement.
It predicted that "roads will be flooded by waste water" and "diseases will spread".
Gaza has had no electricity supplies since Israel's war on Gaza -- and its ensuing siege of the territory -- erupted on October 7. The fuel-powered waste plants treat water that is then put into the Mediterranean.
"Nineteen pits and two large reservoirs are unusable in Deir al-Balah," Ismail Sarsour, an official with the city's emergency committee, said ahead of the release of the statement.
He said the stations handle wastewater for more than 140 points of shelter where tens of thousands of people have taken refuge.
The Palestinian Authority's water department, the PWA, which is based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said recently it had arranged for tens of thousands of litres of fuel to enter Gaza.
But Palestinian experts said the water crisis is so deep that the fuel alone would not help. Sarsour and the experts said there was also a critical shortage of spare parts to repair damaged infrastructure.
The Palestinian Authority said Tuesday that it expected electricity supplies to start again in central Gaza in "coming days" to power public infrastructure. Israeli authorities have not confirmed the move.
Israel's relentless bombardment and ground invasion have killed at least 38,713 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the territory's health ministry.
An analysis published by The Lancet medical journal, says the actual Palestinian death toll in Gaza could exceed 186,000 people.
The nine-month assault has also wounded more than 89,166 Palestinians, while an Israeli siege has pushed more than half a million to the brink of starvation.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online
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