ISRAEL: From the sewer to the sea

This one is not for readers with delicate stomachs. Consider yourselves warned.

Much has rightly been made of the myriad deprivations suffered by residents of the Gaza Strip because of the 10-month-long economic siege of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas took control last summer.

Merchants have run short of everything, from auto parts to diapers; an alarming percentage of the population now lives on international aid; and all but emergency surgical procedures are put on the back burner because of shortages of most medical supplies.

Now comes a new sign of Gaza's desperate state — one that should disturb fans of the Mediterranean beaches in Israel and Egypt.

A new United Nations report states that public utilities officials in Gaza have pumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Mediterranean over the last three months.The shortage of fuel and constant power cuts make it impossible to treat the sewage, the report states:

Full sewage treatment requires 14 continuous days of uninterrupted power supply which cannot occur due to daily power cuts and insufficient fuel to operate power-supplying and back-up generators."

According to the report, the sewage flows northward toward the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.

— Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem

Photo: Coming soon to a beach near you. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Comments

[Dave from NYC]

Wondering why the Gaza sewage system is in shambles? They are digging out the pipes and using them to make rockets to try to murder Jews at random.

I direct you to

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/palis-use-donated-sewage-pipes-for-kassam-rockets

[Eli Habib]

Gaza gets power from Egypt and fuel to run the hospitals and vital services. The residential and other businesses are without power for a few hours each day.
Hamas has determined where the shortages should be and redirects fuel for their own gain. It is staging for the world media and to incite the people in gaza not against themselves but against Israel.
If palestinians realized how much each rocket, mortar or bomb is costing them they would have stopped years ago.
Palestinians keep harming themselves yet their leaders keep them in the dark
Such a waste.

[Al Ramy]

When Egypt ruled the strip, the sewer went to the sea. It is the Israeli "Occupation" which introduced better technologies and improvement in the quality of life for the residents for the first time since their elders and allies encouraged them to run away from their homes and become refugees. Those who spent time in Gaza know that if the Putch Regime of Hamas stopped the practice of firing deadly explosives into Israel (over 5000 rockets) Israel has no reason to keep the strip in this condition. It is in its own interest to have healthy and prosperous neighbors but what would the U.S do if its Border Patrol officers were deliberately murdered as they were operating the border crossings?