The health conditions in the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip have worsened due to overflow of sewage and contamination of drinking and usage water, which has led to the spread of diseases during the ongoing Israeli war since the 7th of last October.

In the alleys of Jabalia, sewage water appears leaking into citizens’ homes and shelter centers, with the work of the Jabalia municipality completely halted due to Israel’s destruction of its equipment during the bombing.

Residents in the city of Jabalia are suffering from the spread of diseases as a result of these difficult health conditions, as the Israeli siege continues.

Palestinian Mohsen Abu Faraj (34 years old) describes the situation in the city of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, as “catastrophic.”

He told Anadolu: “Sewage mixes with the potable water that we drink and use for food, which leads to the spread of diseases.”

He added: "Children in Jabalia suffer from various diseases due to sewage leaking into homes."

He stressed that the streets and homes are filled with unpleasant odors as a result of overflowing sewage.

He pointed out that the residents of Gaza, "if they do not die as a result of the war, will face death due to water pollution."

Meanwhile, Palestinian Nimr Abdel Wahed (46 years old) said: “The epidemic spread in Jabalia due to the leakage of sewage.”

He added to Anadolu: "My child is sick, and many of the city's children also suffer from diseases caused by water pollution and sewage leakage."

Last January, the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority revealed that 66 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip suffers from the spread of diseases transmitted by polluted water, including cholera, chronic diarrhea, and intestinal diseases.

In turn, the mayor of the town of Jabalia, Mazen Al-Najjar, announced that Israel has destroyed more than 70 percent of the water wells suitable for drinking and use since the beginning of the war on the seventh of last October.

Al-Najjar said in an interview with Anadolu Agency, “Municipality crews stopped providing services to citizens in the Gaza Strip after Israel destroyed 23 of their vehicles during the past week, which led to them burning.”

He added: "The water that is extracted by residents using primitive methods is polluted, and this has led to an increase in cases of complex and difficult diseases in Palestinian society, which we have not seen before."

Al-Najjar added: "The people in the Gaza Strip are suffering from real famine, in light of the shortage of food and nutrients as a result of the imposed siege and war on Gaza."

He pointed out that "the destruction of vehicles and the targeting of infrastructure, in addition to the continued bombing and war on Gaza, led to a major deficit in providing necessary services to citizens in the town of Jabalia, which includes thousands of displaced people."

He added: "Since the beginning of the war, we have not been able to obtain diesel supplies to the municipality, which has increased the complexity of providing services in light of the power outage."

He explained that the power outage led to an increase in cases of overflow of sewage collection ponds in the northern Gaza Strip.

He pointed out that the municipality has communicated with international institutions, led by the Red Cross, to provide the fuel necessary to operate water collection stations and pump drinking water to citizens.

Al-Najjar confirmed that the town of Jabalia includes 40 gatherings of displaced people as a result of the massive destruction caused by Israel in the towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

He pointed out that residents and displaced people suffer from a lack of basic resources such as food, drink and fuel, which makes their suffering exacerbated by the war.

The mayor appealed to international and human rights institutions to provide the necessities of life for the residents of the northern Gaza Strip who suffer from hunger and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

As a result of the war and Israeli restrictions, the residents of Gaza, especially the Gaza and North governorates, are on the verge of famine, in light of a severe scarcity of food, water, medicine and fuel supplies, with the displacement of about two million Palestinians from the Strip, which has been besieged by Israel for 17 years.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip that has left tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of “genocide.” Collective.”