WASHINGTON, February 9, 2011 (WAFA) - The closure regime imposed on Gaza since 2006 together with the escalation of hostilities during the period between December 2008 and January 2009 has had direct and highly negative environmental impacts, according to a World Bank report on the Gaza Solid Waste Management Project.

Report said that the environmental degradation of Gaza Strip is very serious due to a number of factors, the most critical of which are: near saturation of the three existing main landfills (north, middle, and south) and the increasing risk to the very shallow and already threatened groundwater aquifers—the main water resource; limited capacity to manage the generated waste (burning/leachate which pollutes ground water aquifers, unsafe scavenging, wild animals); rapid population growth; limited land resources and the resulting very high and increasing population density; deteriorating capacity to collect generated waste due in part to the difficult economic situation, the resulting inability to pay for SWM Services and the dwindling municipal financial resources; weak governance, primarily as a result of the critical political and economic situation, lack of progress on priority environmental projects and underinvestment in environmental systems.

The situation has been further aggravated in Gaza by the Israeli military actions which resulted not only in loss of life but also in substantial amounts of demolition debris of damaged buildings, some of which is contaminated with hazardous substances, the report concluded.

F.R.