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Palestine accuses Israel of opening dams, flooding Gaza, forcing evacuations
RT,
24 February, 2015
Palestinian officials say hundreds of Gazans were forced to evacuate after Israel opened the gates of several dams on the border with the Gaza Strip, and flooded at least 80 households. Israel has denied the claim as “entirely false.”
24 February, 2015
Palestinian officials say hundreds of Gazans were forced to evacuate after Israel opened the gates of several dams on the border with the Gaza Strip, and flooded at least 80 households. Israel has denied the claim as “entirely false.”
In
the wake of a recent severe winter storm in the region, Israeli
authorities opened the floodgates to discharge the accumulated water,
Palestinian officials say. Residents of eastern Gaza reported
injuries as well as deaths of livestock and poultry, caused by the
Israeli action which allegedly came without prior notification,
Gaza's Civil Defense Directorate (CDD) said Sunday.
Photos
of the Gaza Strip flood have appeared in social networks, but the
date when they were taken can't be independently verified as yet.
“The
[Israeli] army opened the floodgates of a canal leading to central
Gaza, which resulted in the removal of sand mounds along the border
with Israel,” the CDD announced, according to Palestinian News
Agency WAFA.
“Opening
the levees to the canal has led to the flooding of several
Palestinian homes, and we had to quickly evacuate the afflicted
citizens.”
No
casualties were reported as a result, but more than 80 families had
to flee after their homes filled with water levels sometimes reaching
more than three meters, the Gaza Ministry of Interior said in a
statement.
In
a letter to RT regarding the issue, Israel’s Coordinator of
Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) maintained that“the
claim is entirely false."
"Southern
Israel does not have any dams. Due to the recent rain, streams were
flooded throughout the region with no connection to actions taken by
the State of Israel,” COGAT said.
The
flood reportedly forced the closure of the main road connecting
al-Mughraqa district and Nusseirat refugee camp south of Gaza city,
leaving hundreds of Palestinians trapped in the floods, a difficult
prospect for approximately 110,000 Palestinians left homeless by
Israel’s assault last summer.
Evacuated
families were taken to UNRWA-sponsored (UN Relief and Works Agency)
shelters in the al-Bureij refugee camp and the al-Zahra neighborhood.
"Israel
opened water dams, without warning, last night, causing serious
damage to Gazan villages near the border. More than 40 homes were
flooded and 80 families are currently in shelters as a result,”
chief of the civil defense agency in Gaza, Brigadier Gerneral Said
Al-Saudi, told Al Jazeera.
Local
agriculture was also affected, Al-Saudi said. “We are appealing to
human rights organizations and international rights organizations to
intervene to prevent further such action.”
Further
harm could be caused if Israel opens up more dams, warned Gaza Civil
Defense Services (CDD) spokesman Muhammad al-Midana, as cited by the
Ma'an news agency. A fast-moving water stream is currently flowing
from the Israel border through the Gaza valley and into the
Mediterranean Sea, he said.
The
Gaza Valley (Wadi Gaza) used to be a unique wetland ecosystem located
in the central Gaza Strip between al-Nuseirat refugee camp and
al-Moghraqa. It flowed from two streams, one running from near
Beersheba, and the other from vicinity of Hebron. There’s not much
water left in Wadi Gaza, as water being mostly used upstream in
Israel and the stream running through the Gaza Strip consists mainly
of untreated waste from Gaza City, which pumps up millions of liters
of sewage into the riverbed.
Wadi
Gaza overflowing with untreated sewage (image from www.ewash.org)Wadi
Gaza overflowing with untreated sewage (image from www.ewash.org)
According
to media reports, this is not the first time Israeli authorities have
opened the floodgates to their Gaza Valley dams to discharge massive
quantities of excessive water that accumulated during heavy rains or
snowfall.
A report from Press TV
The zionists, of course deny being guilty of anything so dastardly
Israel denies causing Gaza floods by opening dams
Palestinians
have been evacuated from their homes after heavy rains flood Gaza
24
February, 2015
Israel
has rejected allegations by government officials in the Gaza strip
that authorities were responsible for released storm waters flooding
parts of the besieged area.
"The
claim is entirely false, and southern Israel does not have any dams,"
said a statement from the Coordinator of Government Activites in the
Territorities (COGAT).
"Due
to the recent rain, streams were flooded throughout the region with
no connection to actions taken by the State of Israel."
At
least 80 Palestinian families have been evacuated after water levels
in the Gaza Valley (Wadi Gaza) rose to almost three meters, .
The
Gaza Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Sunday that civil
defence services had worked alongside teams from the Minsitry of
Public Works to evacuate families to shelters in al-Bureij refugee
camp and in al-Zahra neighbourhood sponsored by UNRWA, the UN Relief
and Works Agency.
Brigadier
Gerneral Said Al-Saudi, chief of the civil defence agency in Gaza,
told Al Jazeera: "More than 40 homes were flooded and 80
families are currently in shelters as a result."
He
added that the flooding would adversely affect local agriculture as
the area included Gazan poultry and animal farms.
A
major storm in the region has brought freezing rain to Gaza and snow
across parts of the Occupied Territories and Israel.
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