MoSD Warns of Escalating Waste Crisis in the Gaza Strip and Calls for Urgent International Action
The Ministry of Social Development warns of the rapidly deteriorating environmental and public health situation in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war and the near-total collapse of the solid waste management system. This is compounded by extreme summer temperatures that are intensifying the suffering of hundreds of thousands of displaced families living in tents and temporary shelters. At a time when residents lack even the most basic necessities of life, accumulating waste has become a daily threat to public health and the environment, placing children, older persons, persons with disabilities, individuals with chronic illnesses, and women at heightened risk.
According to United Nations estimates, nearly one million metric tons of solid waste have accumulated across the Gaza Strip, while approximately 1,400 metric tons of additional waste are generated each day. Waste collection, transportation, and safe disposal services have almost completely collapsed due to the widespread destruction of infrastructure, vehicles, and facilities dedicated to waste management.
The accumulation of waste under extreme heat accelerates decomposition, releasing harmful gases and foul odors while allowing contaminated leachate to seep into the soil. This poses serious risks to the environment and groundwater and creates ideal breeding conditions for insects, rodents, and stray dogs, significantly increasing the likelihood of infectious disease outbreaks. These risks are further exacerbated by severe overcrowding in displacement sites, the collapse of the healthcare system, shortages of clean water, and the breakdown of sanitation services.
The war has also devastated much of Gaza’s waste management infrastructure, including collection vehicles, transfer stations, and waste treatment facilities. In addition, the two main sanitary landfills remain inaccessible, leading to the emergence of more than 140 informal waste dumping sites near residential areas and displacement camps, reflecting the scale of the environmental deterioration affecting the Gaza Strip.
These conditions reveal a crisis that extends far beyond environmental concerns and has evolved into a complex public health, humanitarian, and social emergency. The mixing of household waste with medical waste in several locations, together with the accumulation of waste near displacement sites, has significantly increased the risk of skin diseases, respiratory illnesses, and gastrointestinal infections, exposing the most vulnerable groups to heightened danger amid limited healthcare services and restricted access to treatment.
Despite severe resource constraints, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of State for Relief Affairs continue implementing humanitarian interventions to protect the most vulnerable families. In this context, the Ministry is closely monitoring the situation of families whose shelters are located adjacent to waste dumps or informal waste collection sites. In coordination with partners and relevant authorities, efforts are underway to identify safer locations by establishing alternative camps, providing tents for affected families, and facilitating their relocation away from waste accumulation sites, thereby reducing their exposure to environmental and health hazards, particularly for children, older persons, and persons with disabilities.
The continued accumulation of waste within residential neighborhoods and around displacement camps is depriving families of even the most basic conditions for safe living and further deepening the suffering of communities already enduring displacement, overcrowding, and the absence of essential services.
International assessments indicate that current response efforts remain far below the scale of existing needs. The waste management sector requires approximately USD 62 million in urgent funding over the next 18 months to restore waste collection and transportation services and rehabilitate essential infrastructure. Recovery and reconstruction needs for the waste management sector are estimated to exceed USD 110 million to ensure sustainable service delivery and protect public health.
In light of these circumstances, the Ministry of Social Development calls upon the international community, the United Nations, humanitarian organizations, and donor partners to take immediate action by providing the necessary funding, facilitating the entry of equipment, machinery, fuel, and operational supplies, ensuring safe access for technical personnel, and supporting municipalities and relevant authorities in resuming safe waste collection, transportation, and treatment operations. The Ministry also calls for the removal of informal waste dumps located near residential communities and displacement sites in order to prevent further deterioration of the environmental and public health situation.
The Ministry reiterates that protecting civilians in the Gaza Strip extends beyond the provision of food, medicine, and shelter. It also requires ensuring a safe and healthy environment that preserves human dignity and safeguards the right to live free from pollution and disease. Under the current circumstances, waste management is no longer a routine municipal service—it has become an urgent humanitarian intervention, as essential as food, water, and healthcare, given its direct role in protecting lives and preventing the spread of disease.
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On the International Day for the Elimination of Child Marriage, MoSD Affirms: Protecting Girls Begins with Education, Protection, & Family Empowerment
Ramallah – On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage, the Ministry of Social Development emphasized that child marriage cannot be addressed in isolation from the broader social protection system, as it is linked to multiple factors, including poverty, school dropout, domestic violence, loss of parental care, displacement, and weakened protection networks. The Ministry explained that its role includes protecting children and girls at risk, providing case management, family interventions, psychosocial support, and referral services, and connecting families with assistance, essential services, and economic empowerment programmes. It also coordinates with relevant authorities when the safety of a child or girl is at risk. The Ministry places the best interests of the child and protection from exploitation and abuse at the heart of its child protection services. The Ministry stressed that preventing early marriage also requires protecting families from poverty and economic shocks, supporting girls' continued access to education, raising awareness of their rights, and strengthening families' ability to cope with pressures without resorting to practices that may expose girls to long-term physical, psychological, and social risks. The issue is particularly concerning in the Gaza Strip, where the Ministry warned that the loss of parental care, displacement, extreme poverty, and the declining capacity of extended families to provide care and protection increase children's vulnerability to various forms of exploitation, including early marriage. In this context, the Ministry continues to work with local and international organizations involved in child and women's protection to strengthen early intervention, referral pathways, alternative care, and psychosocial support, alongside assistance to the most vulnerable families to reduce the risk factors that may contribute to early marriage. The Ministry called for child marriage to be addressed as a child protection and human rights issue requiring coordinated action among families and social, educational, health, and legal institutions. It also called for increased investment in girls' education, protection, and empowerment to safeguard their right to grow, learn, and make decisions about their future freely and safely.
On World Children's Day, MoSD: Palestinian Children Face Harsh Realities of Loss, Displacement, Violence, & Deprivation
Ramallah – On the occasion of World Children's Day, observed annually on 20 November, the Ministry of Social Development emphasized that Palestinian children are facing extremely harsh conditions amid the continuing consequences of the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip and escalating attacks, displacement, home demolitions, and movement restrictions in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. These conditions have deprived children of their lives, families, shelter, education, care, and safety. According to available United Nations data, at least 21,700 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip, while approximately 45,000 have been injured, including more than 11,000 children who have sustained life-altering injuries. Meanwhile, thousands of families continue to experience repeated displacement and deprivation of essential services. In the West Bank, including Jerusalem, children continue to face attacks, forced displacement of families, and damage to schools, homes, and infrastructure. More than 1,700 children have been displaced since the beginning of 2026 as a result of settler violence, movement restrictions, and demolitions. The Ministry stressed that the consequences of war and occupation extend beyond immediate casualties to include bereavement, family separation, hunger, school dropout, child labour, violence, exploitation, acquired disabilities, and psychological and social distress. These risks require a comprehensive and long-term child protection response. The Ministry explained that child protection is a central pillar of its work, implemented through Child Protection Departments in its directorates. These departments receive reports, assess levels of risk, provide case management and family follow-up, facilitate referrals to specialized services, and intervene in cases of violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect. Their responsibilities also include protecting children engaged in labour or begging, children who have dropped out of school, and children in conflict with the law, in coordination with relevant government authorities and partner organizations. In the Gaza Strip, children's protection and care needs have intensified significantly, particularly among orphans, children deprived of parental care, separated and unaccompanied children, and those requiring psychosocial support. In cooperation with its partners, the Ministry is working to provide alternative care, social follow-up, sponsorship programmes, psychological support, and food, health, and in-kind assistance, while strengthening and restoring child protection services across the Gaza Strip. The Ministry emphasized that protecting children is inseparable from protecting their families. Accordingly, child protection services form part of a broader social protection system encompassing food, cash, and non-food assistance, health insurance, education, school bags and stationery, psychosocial support, services for persons with disabilities, and family economic empowerment. These interventions aim to reduce the risks associated with poverty, displacement, loss of income, and family instability. The Ministry of Social Development called on the international community, United Nations agencies, humanitarian organizations, and donors to provide sustainable support for the Palestinian child protection system. It urged continued funding for alternative care programmes, orphan sponsorship, psychosocial support, education, nutrition, and rehabilitation, alongside support for Palestinian national institutions capable of reaching children and families and ensuring sustained follow-up. The Ministry concluded by emphasizing that World Children's Day cannot be merely an occasion for celebration while Palestinian children are deprived of their most fundamental rights. It stressed that protecting children begins with safeguarding their right to life and extends to ensuring their rights to family care, shelter, food, education, healthcare, protection, and social support.
