Gaza municipality: Humanitarian situation dire, unable to provide basic services

Gaza City municipality spokesman Asim al-Nabiha said on Saturday morning that hundreds of thousands of residents are crowded in central and western parts of the city under dire humanitarian conditions.
Al-Nabiha told reporters the municipality is unable to provide the minimum level of services, noting that the per capita share of water in the Strip has fallen to less than 5 liters a day for drinking and hygiene. He added, “We expect a large rise in the number of casualties if the occupation expands its military operation.”

He said the municipality is facing a complete collapse of services as the occupation continues to prevent the entry of fuel and the equipment needed. “Our estimates are that there are more than one million people in central and western Gaza City, most of them displaced,” he added.

In earlier remarks, the Gaza municipality said these threats would deepen the humanitarian catastrophe, noting that the war since Oct. 7, 2023, has destroyed basic infrastructure, including roads, water and sewage networks, parks and service vehicles, and has caused huge accumulations of waste inside the city. Many civil society organizations and residents have said there is no safe place to seek refuge.
It said mass displacement and severe overcrowding have exacerbated the municipality’s inability to provide basic services under the siege and the ban on fuel and equipment deliveries, warning of a total collapse of the municipal services system and a direct danger that threatens the lives of thousands of civilians. The Gaza municipality called on the international community to urgently intervene to stop the genocidal war, support the city’s resilience, and engage with the “A Life for Gaza – Stop the Genocide” campaign as an urgent humanitarian appeal to protect civilians and ensure their right to life.

It said that since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel, with U.S. support, has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, which has left 63,025 dead and 159,490 wounded among Palestinians, most of them children and women, more than 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 322 Palestinians, including 121 children.