Gaza beaches polluted due to the Israeli siege

[ 06/07/2008 - 10:35 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The health ministry in the PA caretaker government has warned the public in the Gaza Strip against swimming in Gaza waters due to the continued pumping of sewage water into the sea as a result of the fuel shortage caused by the Israeli siege that prevented work of the sewage treatment station.

Dr. Muawiya Hassanain, director of ambulance and emergency in the ministry, said that the warning was meant to protect Palestinian citizens against contagious and skin diseases after the sewage water and other refuse were being dumped into the sea along with the presence of harmful sea weeds off the Gaza coasts.

An academic study in Gaza warned that microbes in the sewage water could live in the salty water of the sea for different periods of time, and added that the civilians would almost certain to contract various diseases that could range from slight inflammation to the fatal meningitis.

The European campaign to lift the siege on Gaza had raised the alarm after reports on contamination of sea water in Gaza surfaced, which also said that even drinking water in Gaza was contaminated.

The Brussels-based campaign said that all aspects of life for one a half million Palestinians in Gaza were coming to a complete standstill as a result of the siege.

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