06/05/2026
Today, on World Environment Day and the commemoration of Naksa Day, we honor UNRWA’s role in maintaining the environment and tending to the land for decades.
From the 1967 Naksa to present, Palestinian communities and their land have been under ongoing attacks. Most recently, we have witnessed widescale destruction in the Gaza Strip that has set its development back 77 years.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates it will take over 15 years and $71 billion to clear the 61 million tons of rubble created so far by the Israeli military assault on Gaza since October 2023.
Through it all, UNRWA staff continues to show up in Gaza. UNRWA reaches 1,000,000 people with solid waste services and 270,000 people with water distribution. UNRWA has the infrastructure, staff, knowledge, and expertise to support even more if constant attacks stop.
Join us in calling for immediate action to preserve both lives and the planet. Raw sewage is flooding the streets and flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, polluting the ocean that connects us all.
Skin diseases and rashes are rapidly spreading through surges of infestations from rodents and parasites. Families, most of whom have been forcibly displaced over 10 times already, are forced to live amongst mountains of trash.
The people of Gaza deserve to live in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment—it is a universally recognized human right.
The majority of water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure has been destroyed and UNRWA sanitation workers are unable to safely remove and treat waste while under constant bombardment.
We need your advocacy to ensure Palestine refugees can live in dignity and peace, until there is a just solution to their plight.
