The sea off the besieged Gaza Strip has been transformed from a last refuge for nearly two million Palestinians into something resembling a suffocating prison due to the influx of thousands of cubic meters of untreated sewage, according to satellite imagery analysis conducted by Al Jazeera’s Open Source Unit.
The analysis of satellite images, taken on August 24, 2026, revealed that sewage in Gaza extends for more than 5,461 meters, with the deepest point of the contaminated water reaching approximately 490 meters.
The figures and images paint a harsh daily reality for thousands of displaced people living amidst a polluted sea, foul odors, and suffocating overcrowding in their shelters. Over time, the contaminated water has become a silent threat, potentially leading to diseases and epidemics, further exacerbating the already dire situation faced by displaced people in the devastated Gaza Strip. The Gaza City Municipality estimates that about 24,000 cubic meters of untreated sewage leak into the sea daily, as a result of the extensive destruction caused by the Israeli occupation army, following the targeting of treatment plants and drainage networks.
The municipality explained that the damage to the sanitation sector resulted in the destruction of eight pumping stations and approximately 212,000 linear meters of sewage networks. The East Bureij Camp and Sheikh Ajlin neighborhood pumping stations were rendered inoperable due to the damage they sustained, significantly reducing the system’s capacity to treat and dispose of wastewater.
