Bethlehem – Ma’an – A massive sewage flood, caused by the impact of an Israeli shell striking a treatment plant in Gaza, is visible from outer space according to satellite images released by the United Nations this week.
The images, released on Tuesday by the UN’s Operational Satellite Applications Program (UNOSAT) show an impact crater in a sewage reservoir in the Sheikh Ajleen area, southeast of Gaza City, from an Israeli shell that exploded in the second week of the Israeli offensive on Gaza in January.
The shell “caused a massive outflow of sewage, moving an estimated total distance of 1.2km,” UNOSAT said.
UNOSAT used imagery with a special resolution of two meters.
The sewage treatment plant in Sheikh Ajleen is Gaza’s largest, treating raw sewage from some 400,000 people. It has been out of operation since early January.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which sent a field team with Palestinian engineers to Sheikh Ajleen, “raw sewage poured directly into residential areas, agricultural lands and the Mediterranean Sea, posing a serious public health threat.”
Thanks to Ma'an agency
There was another disastrous sewage spill in Gaza two years ago, again caused by Israel, which could also be seen from space.
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