Al -Jazeera Net Correspondents
9/8/2025–|Last update: 16:14 (Mecca time)
Gaza- The Israeli occupation forces continue to impose their control with fire on the city of Beit Lahia, the northwestern of the Gaza Strip, and prevent all its residents from reaching their homes or their agricultural lands that were the food basket of the sector.
Beit Lahia has been subjected to the wild invasion since the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023, and large areas of its territory were transferred to a buffer zone that prevented the reclaiming of border agricultural lands.
The mayor of Beit Lahia, Engineer Alaa Al -Attar, said that the city lives one of the most difficult stages in history, after the occupation forced more than 110 thousand people – that is, more than 90% of its population – on displacement, leaving behind about 25 thousand dunums (dunum = 1000 square meters) of their lands and destroyed homes.
Destruction and displacement
Al -Attar explained, in an exclusive interview with Al -Jazeera Net, that the vast majority of the people of Beit Lahia were displaced towards the western regions of Gaza, while the rest went to the south, to distribute more than 74 displaced camps, all of which suffer from the absence of the simplest elements of life.
He added that the living conditions in these camps are extremely cruel, as the displaced people lack water, food and appropriate shelter, in light of the spread of malnutrition and skin diseases, as a result of living near random sewage pools and the multiplication of harmful insects and mosquitoes.
Al -Attar pointed out that the Israeli occupation deliberately deliberately, and continuing so far, destroying all the water and desalination stations in the city, which numbered 29 main wells and 8 stations, after the municipality had fixed most of it during the ceasefire last January, and the water was pumped into a number of neighborhoods.
The matter was not limited to the water, but the complete sewage system was destroyed, as it destroyed all 7 main pumps, which led to the complete stopping of the service.
He also pointed out that the occupation destroyed 32 mechanisms for water, solid waste and sanitation services, in addition to destroying one million square meters of paved roads and residential buildings by 100% inside the city.
As the aggression continues, the occupation continues to target the remaining water and sanitation networks, which makes the declaration of the Beit Lahia city a disaster and non -housing city inevitable, he said.
Execution of the ingredients for living
Al -Attar talked about the loss of Beit Lahiya for its role as a basic food source for the Gaza Strip, explaining that the city included 20 thousand dunums of fertile agricultural lands deployed north and west, and it produced various items of vegetables, fruits, citrus fruits, etc., which covered the needs of the entire sector and dispensed from import from abroad.
The aggression – Al -Attar says – the municipality’s ability to provide services completely, after the destruction of all its capabilities and property, stressing that the municipality faces huge challenges lies in the lack of equipment and heavy mechanisms to remove the rubble, the lack of building materials and spare parts, the absence of information technology devices, and a suffocating financing crisis that hinders the provision of basic services.
He indicated that the urgent municipality needs include providing heavy mechanisms and equipment to remove the rubble, building materials for reconstruction, spare parts for mechanisms, computers and digital networks, in addition to urgent financial and technical support.
Plan to advance
Al -Attar concluded his speech, noting that the municipality has developed a plan for the recovery stage immediately after the ceasefire, including urgent relief projects such as opening and expanding the main streets, maintaining wells and water and sanitation networks, buying electric generators, and establishing camps to accommodate the displaced, in cooperation with local and international institutions.
Since the start of the genocide war, Israel has intentionally targeting the operators of the service providers of the Gaza population, and assassinated 5 local municipal heads, as part of its insistence on preventing any attempt to restore basic services in the sector of the sector inhabited by more than two million Palestinians.