Gaza war waste is now affecting Israel's coastal waters, report says

A new report says the toxic legacy of the war in Gaza is now reaching Israel through shared coastal waters and aquifers. It says untreated sewage and contaminated rubble from Gaza are moving north into Israeli marine environments, creating a public health and environmental problem beyond the strip itself. The report argues that the impact of the destruction in Gaza can no longer be contained within one side of the border.

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According to the report, earlier this month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and representatives of the Board of Peace agreed to set up a working group on sanitation and public health affecting both Israel and Gaza. Its membership and operating structure have not yet been made public. The report says Israeli authorities appear to have recognised that the consequences of the destruction in Gaza were likely to spread into Israel.

The report says more than 100,000 cubic metres of raw, untreated sewage are entering the Mediterranean Sea or land each day because of damage to Gaza's electricity and sanitation systems. It says currents in this part of the Mediterranean move mainly from south to north, carrying waste towards Israeli waters. It also says the Ashkelon desalination plant in southern Israel has been forced to shut down several times because of high faecal bacteria contamination linked to Gaza's wastewater.

The issue matters because Israel and Gaza share the same coastline, coastal ecosystems and coastal aquifers. The report says sewage can trigger toxic algae blooms that damage desalination filtration systems and create dead zones that affect fishing. It also says wastewater toxins, heavy metals and pathogens can be absorbed by marine life, raising concerns for consumers on both sides of the maritime boundary.

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The report adds that contaminated groundwater may not be likely to enter Israeli municipal supplies directly, but could still affect the shared aquifer over time. The article also says the scale of rubble in Gaza is now a separate concern, with an estimated 60 million tonnes mentioned as part of the wider environmental damage. It frames the situation as an example of how war damage can spread through shared natural systems, including the sea and underground water.

That makes sanitation and environmental management part of the broader post-war challenge, not only a local infrastructure issue. What remains unclear is how the new working group will operate, who will sit on it and whether it will produce immediate measures. The report does not say when any public findings or policy changes will be announced.

It also leaves open how quickly contamination levels may change and what practical steps could reduce the risk to coastal water, fisheries and desalination facilities.

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