Gaza City.<\/a><\/p>\nThe bombing of the desalination plant has exacerbated the already dire conditions in the enclave, with the Joint Services Council for Solid Waste Management warning of an imminent environmental health disaster.<\/p>\n
The organisation said that there was a growing waste crisis in the Strip, with much of it accumulating in streets and residential areas. The group also noted that the war had forced the closure of the main landfills, causing waste to pile up in areas that could pose serious risks to civilians.<\/p>\n
Council chairman Ahmed al-Sufi said in a press conference on Thursday in Deir al-Balah that Gaza “is going through a critical moment that is no longer limited to the humanitarian crises, but has gone beyond that to a direct threat to the environment and public health”.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that there is a “serious reality where there is a spread of rodents and insects in the absence of proper waste management,” and said that this could cause new diseases to emerge.<\/p>\n
The health crisis comes amid continued Israeli attacks and limited aid entering the enclave, violating the terms of the truce.<\/p>\n
Authorities in the Strip state that there have been at least 2,4000 violations since the truce was agreed.<\/p>\n
The violations include the killing, arrest, siege, and starvation of civilians, with at least 765 killed and 2,140 wounded since the truce came into effect.<\/p>\n
The figures come a day after reports in local media stated on that on Thursday evening Israeli forces fatally shot a minor in the Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza.<\/p>\n
The child was identified as nine-year-old Saleh Badawi, with reports stating he was instantly killed and then transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital.<\/p>\n
On the same day, Israeli forces killed two brothers in a strike on the vicinity of Abu Tammam School in Beit Lahia, and another man succumbed to his wounds from an earlier strike on a vehicle along al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City.<\/p>\n
The developments come as a government meeting was held in Israel this week to discuss the future of the truce in Gaza, following US pressure. However, Palestinians have reiterated that Israel has not fulfilled its duty outlined in the terms in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the US and Hamas held their first direct talks since the ceasefire came into effect. The meeting in Cairo was headed by US adviser Aryeh Lightstone and\u00a0Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya. A State Department Spokesperson declined to comment on the talks, while Hamas also did not comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Palestinian Prisoners\u2019 Day\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Thursday evening, dozens gathered in Gaza City to hold a candlelight vigil to mark Palestinian Prisoner\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
Many raised banners to condemn the Israeli Knesset law passed that would allow for the execution of Palestinian prisoners accused of carrying out attacks against Israelis, which has been decried as \u201cracist\u201d by rights groups as the same law does not apply to Israelis.<\/p>\n
During the vigil, civilians also called for the protection of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails, where reports from rights organisations have concluded that torture is rife.<\/p>\n
The vigil, held at the Saraya intersection in the centre of Gaza City, saw several people wave Palestinian flags and the images of Palestinians detained by Israeli forces.<\/p>\n
According to reports in local media citing data from human rights organisations, over 9,600 Palestinian detainees are languishing in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n
Palestinian Prisoner\u2019s Day is being marked around the world on Friday, with events organised in main squares and town centres in major cities.<\/p>\n
Around 144 events are being held in at least 19 countries to commemorate the day, reports state. The events are being held under the title of \u2018Red Ribbons Campaign\u2019 which states the aim is to free the thousands of Palestinians held unlawfully in Israeli captivity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel killed two more civilians in the enclave after targeting a desalination plant [Getty] Israel kept up its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[60,18917,85,46,43,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-399930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-gaza-war","9":"tag-humanitarian-crisis","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-palestine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}