Gaza's growing sanitation crisis adds to the misery of the war. Bulldozers are breaking up piles of waste, but angry residents are finding no relief as their children trample rubbish in the streets, reports Reuuters.
"We can't sleep, we can't eat, we can't drink water, the smell is killing us," said Ahmed Shalula, one of the many displaced Palestinians who is from Gaza City and lives in Khan Younis.
Palestinians have faced one crisis after another since the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas erupted in October. In addition to Israeli airstrikes, shelling and ground offensives, Palestinians are crippled by shortages of food, fuel, water, medicine and functioning hospitals.
Garbage piles up in the impoverished enclave - one of the most densely populated places in the world - which has been reduced to mostly rubble. People are exposed not only to constant harassment at night by mosquitoes, but also contract diseases such as scabies.
Residents are calling on the Khan Younis municipality to remove the waste, but the call for government services is wishful thinking in Gaza after a nine-month war that erupted when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel responded with an offensive that killed more than 38 people, according to Gaza health authorities. Khan Younis is the second largest city in Gaza, home to 000 million people.
“War damage and fuel shortages created a waste problem. The accumulation of waste has led to bad odors, the spread of insects and rodents in addition to the leakage of liquid from the waste into the underground water tank,” said Omar Matar, an official in charge of solid waste removal in Khan Younis Municipality.
The reservoir is the main source of drinking water for the residents of Khan Yunis. There is no clean water in most of Gaza.
"This landfill was not properly designed to stop wastewater from seeping into the groundwater," Matar added.