Environmental problems in the heart of Gaza

Palestinians living in the city of Gaza face a serious environmental crisis with at least 90 percent of factories and industrial sites located within the populated area of the city, said Mohammed Al Qudwa, governor of the Gaza Strip in a meeting with a group of environment activists.

Al Qudwa said conditions in the Gaza strip were very hazardous on the eve of the PNA takeover after almost 27 years of Israeli occupation "which had forced the whole of the Gaza Strip into a highly-polluted environment." He said the PNA is doing its best to repair the damage caused. The major problem the Palestinians face is in moving factories out of the city, because that involves not only large budgets but also appropriate landscape which is not available in Gaza.