Gaza municipalities warn fuel shortage

The municipalities of the Gaza Strip warned that the continuation of the fuel crisis would provoke an imminent real catastrophe represented in the disruption of the work of key and vital sectors. The spokesman for Gaza Municipalities Union said during a news conference held on Wednesday in Gaza in the presence of a number of mayors that the fuel scarcity which affects the vital sectors would cause a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. He explained that the sewage pumps highly depend on electricity generators that operate with diesel fuel and that due to the continued diesel shortage these vital stations will not be able to work. "The shortage in diesel in the sanitation sector will cause a humanitarian disaster especially in the areas surrounding these stations," the spokesman said, adding that the municipalities began to pump large quantities of untreated wastewater into sea water as a result of the very large shortage in diesel fuel. He pointed out that water wells that supply the population with water depend basically on diesel-powered generators; pointing out that in case those generators stop working, the citizens will be facing a genuine crisis in the supply of water. The Union called on all concerned bodies especially the humanitarian organizations to work on finding solutions to this serious crisis, and demanded the international community to shoulder its responsibility regarding this imminent disaster that may affect the besieged Gaza Strip