The Silent Killer, a fact sheet issued by ICHR on the reality of solid waste accumulation under the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip 

The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) released a fact sheet titled "The Reality of Solid Waste Accumulation under the Israeli Military Aggression on the Gaza Strip: The Silent Killer." 

The fact sheet highlights Israeli occupation practices that have turned Gaza into an area exposed to all kinds of natural and environmental risks within the context of the genocide.

The paper aims to shed light on the environmental and human disasters caused by the accumulation of solid waste and to propose necessary measures and recommendations for the international community and the Israeli occupation.

The paper indicated that the Israeli occupation forces used many weapons on the Gaza Strip, with more than 45,000 bombs dropped in the initial weeks of the aggression. The power of these bombs exceeded that of the three nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 when compared to the area of Gaza with Hiroshima.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported that more than 330,000 tons of waste have accumulated throughout Gaza, posing catastrophic environmental and health risks.

 Waste has accumulated around shelters, schools, and hospitals due to difficult security conditions and Israeli targeting of every moving object in the sector, alongside the depletion of fuel needed to operate collection and transport vehicles, which have also been destroyed by Israeli bombing.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health, through tests on victims' samples, confirmed the presence of toxic heavy materials, such as uranium, in concentrations significantly exceeding normal levels in the examined bodies. Italian researchers, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health at the time, revealed cases of fetal poisoning, deformities, and threats of infertility among men and women due to Israel's use of internationally banned weapons.

The paper concludes with recommendations, the most important of which include urgent and immediate intervention by the international community and humanitarian and human rights institutions. 

It calls for pressure on the occupation to halt the war of extermination by UN Security Council Resolution 2735. The international community and the high contracting parties to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 to fulfill their legal and moral obligations by exerting pressure on the  Israeli occupation and taking measures to protect civilians' lives and properties, prevent the use of gases and toxic materials such as white phosphorus and facilitate the entry of necessary equipment for waste treatment and new trucks and mechanisms

ICHR demands that the international community takes necessary actions to hold Israel accountable for its environmental and water crimes in Palestine, end the blockade, and urgently open all Gaza crossings to allow the entry of urgent needs and supplies for health and ecological facilities to mitigate existing environmental and health risks. Click here