The Union of Municipalities of the Gaza Strip announced on Thursday that the extent of the destruction resulting from the Israeli war that lasted for 15 months amounted to about 55 million tons of rubble in all governorates of the Strip.

The Union of Municipalities said, at the conclusion of an emergency meeting held in Gaza, in a statement published on its website today: “With the continuation of the humanitarian catastrophe experienced by the residents of the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli war of extermination that has lasted for 15 months, the Union of Municipalities of the Gaza Strip confirms that the municipalities are facing an inability to respond effectively due to the lack of basic equipment and capabilities, in light of the massive destruction that has affected the infrastructure and the service, environmental and health sectors.”

He added: "This requires an urgent response to provide the basic needs of municipalities so that they can play their role in serving citizens and alleviating the growing suffering."

The union called for providing the necessary heavy machinery and equipment to deal with about 55 million tons of rubble spread throughout all governorates of the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a serious obstacle to restoring life to the city and rehabilitating public facilities and closed streets.

He called for providing building materials to enable municipalities to repair the infrastructure and rebuild as many service facilities as possible, revealing the need to provide spare parts for municipal machinery, vehicles and equipment, in addition to providing various oils to revive the remaining municipal machinery and equipment that are dilapidated and in need of periodic maintenance that is burdensome for the municipalities.

He urgently requested more than 500 computers, in addition to electronic parts and servers, due to the destruction of the municipalities’ digital networks and work systems.

He stressed the need for solar energy systems, electric generators and batteries to overcome the power outage crisis and the destruction of the electrical grid, which had a catastrophic impact on the operation of water and sewage stations.

He pointed out the necessity of providing basic maintenance materials, most notably water and sewage pipes of different diameters, especially 4, 6, 8 and 10 inches, to rehabilitate damaged networks, prevent water leakage into the streets, and address the problems of water not reaching different areas due to the destruction of the networks.

The union pointed out that "the Gaza Strip is facing unprecedented health and environmental crises due to the widespread destruction of the infrastructure, caused by the overflow of sewage in low-lying areas, and its leakage into the streets and homes, which threatens the lives of citizens due to the spread of diseases and epidemics, in addition to the accumulation of 360 thousand tons of waste as a result of the cessation of the work of waste collection and transportation mechanisms, due to the Israeli occupation's destruction of municipal mechanisms, the lack of fuel, and the prevention of access to the waste dump."

He stressed that "the municipalities of the Gaza Strip are working with almost no capabilities in light of this disaster, and are making great efforts despite the risks and difficulties, which requires urgent international action to bring in equipment and basic needs for the municipalities so that they can restore part of the necessary services, and prevent the situation from deteriorating to more dangerous levels."

He called on all international and relief agencies, humanitarian organizations and countries sponsoring the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip to intervene immediately to save more than two million Palestinians facing unprecedented humanitarian, environmental and health disasters that may not be contained.