The Gaza Municipality has issued a dire warning as over 250,000 tons of waste choke the besieged enclave, threatening an unprecedented environmental and health disaster after 19 months of relentless humanitarian collapse.  

With official landfills blocked by Israeli restrictions, mountains of garbage now fester in residential streets, overwhelming exhausted sanitation crews. The municipality, operating on minimal fuel and broken equipment, has resorted to dumping waste in makeshift sites a stopgap measure that fails to curb the accelerating pollution crisis.  

"The situation is beyond critical," the municipality said in a statement Tuesday. "Without access to proper landfills or adequate resources, disease and contamination will spread uncontrollably."  

Health experts warn of exploding rodent and insect populations, contaminated groundwater, and outbreaks of cholera and other infections in a territory where hospitals are already crippled. The waste crisis compounds Gaza’s infrastructure ruin after 17 years of blockade and months of bombardment that shattered water and sewage systems.  

As Israel continues to block fuel and equipment, residents face a suffocating convergence of crises: no clean water, sporadic electricity, and now, streets overflowing with waste. With no political solution in sight, Gaza’s people are left to endure a man-made catastrophe one garbage heap at a time.