The

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

(IDF) have been accused of targeting municipal services in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. as part of the

2023 Israel–Hamas war } The ongoing armed conflict between Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups and Israel military forces began on 7 October 2023, 50 years after the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Hamas's coordinated surprise offensive, codenamed "Al-Aqsa Fl ...

. The service sector in the region has been repeatedly bombed by the IDF, with a large number of workers in this field killed as a result and the destruction of several municipal facilities and vehicles that provide services to Palestinian citizens. Those attacks also included the destruction of roads and most of the essential service infrastructure such as water tanks, sewage stations, and wells, which the IDF say are built on top of tunnels belonging to

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

. The Israeli newspaper ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'' reported in October 2023 that typically, 90% of Gaza's tap water is considered undrinkable, and this situation is exacerbated during times of conflict. Spokespeople for the IDF and the Israeli government say that the bombings are targeting Hamas leaders, allegedly responsible for the

2023 Hamas attack on Israel A series of coordinated attacks, led by the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, from the Gaza Strip into bordering areas in Israel, commenced on 7 October 2023, a Sabbath day and date of several Jewish holidays. Hamas meticulously pl ...

Key bombings

* Bombing the sewage infrastructure in Gaza and other cities in the strip. * Bombing large water tanks in Beit Lahia and around half of the main usable wells in Jabalia and others. * Preventing the transfer of solid waste to the main landfills in the eastern areas of the strip, like Juhor ad-Dik, resulting in the accumulation of thousands of tons within cities. * Bombing industrial facilities leading to the contamination of groundwater and seawater in the strip. * Bombing the Gaza municipal garage and its maintenance workshop, with a threat to the historic municipal building dating back to 1893. * A power generator plant with four major generators in Bureij was bombed. * The Gaza Municipality's emergency committee stated that Israel had destroyed at least one million square meters of Gaza City roads and stated that municipal "services like water, sanitation, and waste management" had been affected. * In June 2024, the UN estimated Israeli bombardment had destroyed or damaged 70% of Gaza's water and sanitation plants.

Impacts

By June 2024, the destruction of municipal services had led to overflowing sewage, large trash garbage piles, and the spread of diseases such as hepatitis and cholera. In July 2024, nine months of Israeli air campaigns severely damaged Gaza's power facilities, leaving portions of the population without any electricity.

Reactions

In May 2024,

Yahya Al-Sarraj Yahya Rusydi Al-Sarraj (or Yahya R. Sarraj or Yahya Sarraj) is a university professor and local government administrator in Gaza, Palestine. He was appointed Mayor of Gaza City by Hamas in 2019, a move that sparked controversy due to its antidemo ...

, the mayor of

Gaza City Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...

, stated, "The Israeli occupation systematically targeted municipal services and facilities in the Gaza Strip... We have great challenges, the most important of which is providing water and sanitation services."

References

External links

How did the destruction affect the infrastructure in Gaza?
BBC (Arabic) {{DEFAULTSORT:Israeli airstrikes on municipal services in the Gaza Strip, 2023 Gaza Strip humanitarian crisis

Municipal services Municipal services or city services refer to basic services that residents of a city expect to the city government to provide in exchange for the taxes which citizens pay. Basic city services may include sanitation (both sewer and refuse), wate ...

2023 in the Gaza Strip Israeli war crimes in the Israel–Hamas war Violence in the State of Palestine

Key bombings

Impacts

Reactions

See also

References

External links