GAZA CITY (Dispatches) – Health authorities in Gaza fear a third wave of COVID-19 disease after emergency measures collapsed during 11 days of aggression by the Zionist regime.
Gazans “completely forgot about the dangers of the coronavirus pandemic” while the fighting raged, officials said.
Gaza has witnessed a frantic return to life after the carnage by regime that killed more than 250 people, wounded 1,950, and destroyed residential buildings and key commercial facilities.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that it is struggling to return to its work confronting the pandemic with the same energy it had shown before the Zionist aggression.
Ashraf Al-Qidra, a ministry spokesman, said that Gazans were unable to follow health protocols and preventive measures during the assault.
He said that before the recent conflict the health ministry had been expecting a decrease in the epidemiological curve, but now there are fears of a third wave of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, municipalities in the besieged Gaza Strip have started pumping sewage into the sea due to prolonged power outages amid the regime’s continued blockade of the coastal enclave.
Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported on Sunday that the closure of the Karam Abu Salem border crossing has disabled the local sewage treatment plants to function as usual, prompting municipalities to start dumping the sewage into the sea despite the pollution and natural hazards it will cause.
Karem Abu Salem is one of three main Gaza border crossings where most basic goods pass through daily, including much-needed fuel and gas.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO) has said it is struggling with huge financial and physical difficulties getting fuel for the sole power plant in the blocked territory, due to the ongoing closure of the Israeli-controlled border crossing.
The GEDCO said as a result of insufficient fuel for the only functioning power plant in Gaza, it has been forced to reduce the average time of power supply to each household to a daily average of no more than four hours.
Palestinians living in Gaza suffer regular blackouts as a result of fuel shortages with electricity being provided for less than 12 hours a day. Power supply deficit in the coastal enclave is over 75 percent, which could cripple all aspects of life there.