Two years after the devastating Israeli offensive, municipalities in the Gaza Strip face immense challenges in restoring normalcy by providing essential services to the population.
This comes amidst widespread destruction affecting all vital services and sectors, particularly water, sanitation, hygiene, and the rehabilitation of main roads, all while piles of rubble remain.
Municipal staff and administrations in Gaza are operating with limited resources and under constant pressure to meet escalating humanitarian needs. These conditions are the worst in their history, given the scale of the destruction that has crippled most of the municipalities’ infrastructure and capabilities, paralyzing their ability to provide services at a time when the demand for basic necessities is increasing.
The situation is further complicated by the overcrowding of hundreds of thousands of residents in limited areas and neighborhoods.
This displacement is a direct result of internal displacement within the cities, and the Israeli occupation forces prevent residents from returning to their original neighborhoods in the eastern part of the Strip, as these areas fall within what is known as the “yellow zone,” which is under complete Israeli control.
Regarding this, Engineer Yahya al-Sarraj, Mayor of Gaza, affirms that the projects, plans, and operations implemented by the municipality in Gaza City fall under the category of initial, temporary measures. These measures aim to alleviate and ease the hardships faced by citizens, whose lives have been fraught with difficulties and a lack of basic necessities after two years of war that devastated their lives.
He says, “The widespread destruction that affected almost every aspect of the city—homes, shops, markets, cultural centers, libraries, desalination plants, and hospitals—makes the responsibility placed upon us even more difficult and complex.
This is especially true given the dire situation in which the municipalities of the Gaza Strip find themselves after two years of war. The occupation destroyed their headquarters, resources, and equipment, while field workers were not spared from the occupation’s brutality, with dozens killed and wounded.”
