WAR PUSHES GAZA'S ENVIRONMENT TO FULL-SCALE COLLAPSE

TWO years of relentless conflict in the Gaza Strip have left an environmental disaster of unprecedented scale, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warns in a new report released this week.

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA Chenna

The assessment portrays a collapsing ecosystem, polluted water supplies, and farmland laid to waste, raising fears that recovery could take decades without immediate, science-based interventions. The report titled "Environmental Impact of the Escalation of Conflict in the Gaza Strip" details the destruction up to September 2025. It says the territory's environmental collapse is compounding a dire humanitarian crisis. The report comes just weeks after an independent panel concluded parts of Gaza are already in famine.

"Ending the human suffering that has engulfed Gaza must be the priority," said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. "But restoring freshwater systems and removing debris are equally urgent to save lives and rebuild a foundation for recovery." The war has crippled Gaza's water infrastructure. Of the 54 storage reservoirs and pumping facilities that existed before October 2023, only nine remain active -just three of them undamaged-representing an 84 per cent loss in capacity. Gaza's seawater desalination plant, once capable of producing 30,000 cubic meters per day, is operating at less than a sixth of that due to war damage and chronic fuel shortages.

Of 214 groundwater desalination units, only 84 remain functional. Together, they supply just 22 million cubic meters per year, well below the population's needs.

None of Gaza's six wastewater treatment plants are operational, pushing untreated sewage into the aquifer and marine environment. With piped networks shattered, many families have resorted to makeshift cesspits, increasing risks of groundwater contamination, the report says.