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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Access to Services & Information in an Understandable Language Is a Fundamental Right of Persons with Disabilities
Ramallah – On the occasion of the International Day of Sign Languages, observed on 23 September, the Ministry of Social Development affirmed that sign language represents a fundamental right for deaf and hard-of-hearing persons, and that ensuring accessible communication and access to government, social, health, and educational services forms part of the right to equality, participation, and independence. The Ministry explained that its role in supporting persons with disabilities is not limited to providing assistive devices, but also includes case management and social follow-up, health insurance, referrals to rehabilitation services, provision of wheelchairs, hearing aids, eyeglasses, hearing and vision examinations, medical supplies, protection and care services, economic empowerment, and linking persons with disabilities to specialized services and partner organizations. During 2026, the Ministry continued to develop its interventions for persons with disabilities through its directorates, centers, and partnerships with specialized institutions, with a focus on improving accessibility, facilitating access to services, and promoting social inclusion. The Ministry’s interventions also include providing assistive devices and technologies, following up on the most vulnerable cases, connecting them with rehabilitation, education, protection, and social support services, and working with partners to improve services in a manner that reflects different types of disabilities and the specific needs of each case. The Ministry stressed that sign language is not an additional service or a secondary support tool, but a fundamental means of exercising rights. The absence of accessible communication may prevent a deaf person from understanding a service, expressing their needs, reporting violence or abuse, or accessing care and protection. Providing reasonable accommodations and information in accessible formats is therefore an essential component of quality social services. This issue is of particular importance in the Gaza Strip, where war-related injuries have increased the number of people requiring rehabilitation services and assistive devices. Recent humanitarian reports indicate that around 2% of Gaza’s population is now living with serious conflict-related injuries, while shortages of rehabilitation equipment and assistive products, including hearing aids and mobility devices, persist, and the entry of such supplies continues to face prolonged delays. Reports also indicate an ongoing need for specialized services for children with disabilities in Gaza, including assistive devices, rehabilitation, psychosocial support, and referral services. At the same time, children with hearing, mobility, or visual disabilities face additional barriers to accessing protection, education, and information in overcrowded displacement settings. In July alone, hundreds of children with disabilities received multisectoral support, including cash assistance, assistive devices, rehabilitation, psychosocial services, and specialized referrals. The Ministry emphasized that strengthening sign language services and accessibility should extend across government services, health and educational institutions, protection and shelter centers, humanitarian information, warnings, and emergency guidance, ensuring that deaf persons can access information at the same time and to the same standard as others. The Ministry called on government institutions, civil society, the private sector, and donors to increase investment in sign language interpretation services, training for service providers, expanded digital and physical accessibility, provision of hearing and other assistive devices, and support for rehabilitation and inclusion programmes. It stressed that building an inclusive social protection system begins with removing the barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from independently and safely accessing their rights and services.
Psychosocial Support, Case Management, and Referral Are Key Components of the Social Protection System for the Most Vulnerable Groups
Ministry of Social Development: Displacement, Loss, Violence, and Economic Pressures Require an Integrated Psychosocial ResponseRamallah – On the occasion of World Suicide Prevention Day, observed annually on 10 September, the Ministry of Social Development emphasized the importance of strengthening psychosocial support and community-based protection services and expanding early access to support, particularly for groups facing prolonged and severe pressures resulting from displacement, loss, violence, poverty, and family and social instability. The Ministry noted that the 2026 World Suicide Prevention Day theme, “Changing the Narrative on Suicide,” focuses on reducing stigma, creating space for safe conversations about psychological distress, and strengthening the ability of individuals and families to seek help and access appropriate services at the right time. The World Health Organization also emphasizes that prevention requires policies and services that ensure access to care and support, rather than relying on awareness-raising alone. The Ministry explained that mental health is an integral part of social protection, and that its role extends beyond providing material assistance to families to include psychosocial support, case management, family follow-up, referral to specialized services, protection from violence, and interventions targeting children, women, orphans, older persons, persons with disabilities, displaced families, and other vulnerable groups. The Ministry stressed that accumulated economic and social pressures, combined with repeated displacement and the loss of homes, sources of income, or family members, can have a direct impact on individuals’ mental health, particularly children, women, and families living in vulnerable circumstances. This requires an early and integrated response that combines psychosocial support, protection, and access to essential services. Since the beginning of 2026 through the end of August, the Ministry of Social Development has delivered approximately 135,000 social protection and care services and interventions across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These included protection services for women, children, and juveniles; care for orphans; services for persons with disabilities and older persons; psychosocial support; case management; family follow-up; and referrals to specialized services. The Ministry also emphasized the importance of working with families and the wider community surrounding individuals, noting that effective social protection requires strengthening family and community support networks, alleviating economic and social pressures, and connecting individuals with available services. These factors constitute an essential part of prevention and of strengthening people’s ability to cope and remain resilient. The Ministry of Social Development called on local and international organizations and partners to expand psychosocial support programmes, strengthen the capacities of professionals working in protection and case management, and further develop referral pathways and coordination across the social, health, and education sectors, to ensure a more comprehensive response for individuals and families facing accumulated psychological and social pressures.
