In Khan Younis, where Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University once stood, thousands of families say they’re being forced to live next to what has become a putrid temporary garbage dump.
Stretching 250 metres, the pile of garbage is longer than Seattle’s Space Needle is high. Flies, cockroaches and other bugs are inescapable, as is the unbearable foul smell.
“The situation is indescribable,” said Abdullah Tayseer, 48, who moved to Khan Younis with his wife and three children after fighting forced them from their temporary refuge in Rafah.
“All day long, we live in misery.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In Khan Younis, where Gaza’s Al-Aqsa University once stood, thousands of families say they’re being forced to live next to what has become a putrid temporary garbage dump.
“The situation is indescribable,” said Abdullah Tayseer, 48, who moved to Khan Younis with his wife and three children after fighting forced them from their temporary refuge in Rafah.
UNRWA, the main United Nations agency in Gaza, estimated that as of Monday, more than 800,000 people had left Rafah since Israel began targeting the city in early May.
The landfill used to be in Sofa, a town east of Khan Younis, but the city — which is responsible for waste collection — said it had to be moved to a more central area that would be easier to access as the war dragged on.
Mohamed Al-Farra, an environmental engineer with the city, said the university was chosen because it was the largest space available at the time and “the furthest place from people.”
A 2021 study found health consequences for people living near landfills, incinerators or dumping sites in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America included infectious diseases, respiratory conditions, cancer, birth defects and gastrointestinal illness.
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