The Environment Quality Authority confirmed that Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip has caused catastrophic impacts on humans and all components of the living and non-living environment. These include the destruction of infrastructure such as water, sewage, solid waste, and energy systems, as well as pollution of the sea, soil, and air, and the accumulation of massive amounts of rubble.

The Authority stated that the amount of rubble is estimated at 60 million tons of debris from the destruction, in addition to nearly 100,000 tons of explosives with a destructive power equivalent to nine nuclear bombs, constituting annihilation of all environmental components whose effects will last for decades.

In the West Bank, Israeli violations continue through land bulldozing and confiscation. Estimates indicate that Israeli settlements discharge 40 million cubic meters of wastewater annually into the land, causing serious pollution of water and environmental resources. These settlements also emit large quantities of greenhouse gases, exceeding the emissions produced by residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 140%.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) pointed out that this year’s olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank has witnessed the highest level of damage to date.