The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has started clearing a vast wartime garbage dump in Gaza City that has swallowed up one of the enclave’s oldest commercial districts, posing serious environmental and public health risks.
The mountain of waste, estimated at more than 300,000 cubic meters and rising about 13 meters high, has overtaken the historic Fras Market, once a bustling hub serving nearly 600,000 residents. The dump formed after municipal crews couldn’t access Gaza’s main landfill in Juhr al-Dik, near the Israeli border, when the war broke out in October 2023. The area remains under full Israeli control.
Alessandro Mrakic, head of the UNDP Gaza Office, said the operation aims to relocate the waste over the next six months to a newly prepared temporary site in Abu Jarad, south of Gaza City. The 75,000-square-meter site has been built to meet environmental standards and will also handle daily waste collection. The project is funded by the Humanitarian Fund and the European Union’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.
Local residents have expressed relief at the move, though concerns remain about health impacts. “It will cause gases, diseases and germs,” said Abu Issa, an elderly Gazan near the site, urging that the waste be moved far from residential areas.
Gaza Municipality confirmed the relocation effort, describing it as urgent after roughly 350,000 cubic meters of rubbish piled up in the city’s center. Health officials have warned of rising infections amid deteriorating sanitary conditions and limited vaccine uptake.
Amjad al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, called the dump “a symbol of the war,” adding that its removal could restore a sense of hope following last October’s ceasefire agreement.
Since the conflict began, UNDP says it has collected over 570,000 tons of solid waste across Gaza. However, with only a handful of temporary sites operational and the enclave’s two main landfills still out of reach, environmental and public health risks remain critical.
