UNEP: Environmental Impact of the Escalation of Conflict in the Gaza Strip

23 September 2025

Second assessment of environmental damage and recommendations for recovery and reconstruction planning

Executive Summary

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has issued this report in response to a request from the State of Palestine to assess environmental damage arising from the conflict in the Gaza Strip, pursuant to United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) Resolution 6/12 regarding “Environmental assistance and recovery in areas affected by armed conflict”. This is the second assessment of environmental damage in the Gaza Strip issued by UNEP since October 2023.

In June 2024, UNEP’s first Preliminary Assessment found that the conflict had already exerted a profound impact on people and the environment of the Gaza Strip. Fifteen months later, this damage has worsened significantly. The current report covers the period up to 1 September 2025, although some data are available only to mid 2025. At the time of writing, military operations continue, and the damage to people in Gaza and the natural systems on which they depend continues to worsen.

Repairing such extensive damage to land, soil, trees, watercourses and marine ecosystems will be essential for sustainable recovery of the Gaza Strip. Restoration will require a cessation of hostilities. The first phase of recovery will necessarily focus on saving lives, through restoration of essential services (notably freshwater) and removal of debris to facilitate safe movement. After this, careful, science-based and inclusive planning and sustained work towards recovery will be required, led by relevant Palestinian institutions, stakeholders and experts.

For environmental recovery to start, UNEP recommends an inclusive process to define and agree upon a hierarchy of actions. An ecological and environmental health risk screening exercise is therefore proposed to identify priority areas for assessment and management.

Key findings and recommendations relating to environmental recovery in the Gaza Strip are summarised below by issue area.

Water resource systems and wastewater management: The conflict has significantly degraded water infrastructure leading to severely limited, low-quality water supply to the population. This is contributing to numerous adverse health outcomes, including a continuous surge in infectious diseases since the escalation of conflict (World Health Organization [WHO] 2025a; WHO 2025b; WHO 2025c; Paris et al. 2025). Groundwater contamination is likely with implications for environmental and human health. There is an 84 per cent reduction in capacity of storage reservoirs and pumping facilities as only 9 of the 54 remain active (with only 3 undamaged) as of April 2025. Remaining desalination supply capacity is estimated to be 31 percent of the October 2023 capacity, with theoretical operational capacity (if energy supply constraints were lifted) estimated as 58 percent. None of Gaza’s wastewater treatment facilities are currently operational. Furthermore, heavy destruction of piped systems, and increasing use of cesspits for sanitation, have increased contamination of the aquifer, marine and coastal areas.

Considerable investment will be needed, and priority should be to recover supply systems to ensure Gaza’s population has access to recommended water quantity and quality. Humanitarian entities have prepared emergency response plans in the field of water and sanitation, building on experience in the field. Along with water supply, urgent re-installation of sufficient wastewater collection and effective treatment capacity is needed to prevent further human health impacts and prevent future outbreaks of communicable diseases. The restoration of water and sanitation systems also carries important social and developmental benefits, particularly for women and girls. Looking ahead to reconstruction, UNEP provides an assessment of future water needs, building on the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) 2024 plan. Treated wastewater can be used to support agriculture, benefiting food security while enabling recovery of the aquifer. Forward planning should incorporate provisions for sustainable aquifer utilisation. Spatial plans should include preservation/installation of groundwater infiltration lagoons and drainage systems to maximise infiltration, supporting aquifer recovery.

Biodiversity, soil and land: Remote sensing assessments indicate that by May 2025, 97.1 per cent of the tree crops in Gaza, 82.4 per cent of annual crops, 95.1 per cent of shrubland and 89 per cent of grass/ fallow land had been damaged. Production of food is not possible at scale. Soil has been contaminated by munitions, solid waste and untreated sewage. Degradation of soils through loss of vegetation and compaction by military activity have affected soil structure and reduced the infiltration capacity, increasing runoff and flood risks, and reducing groundwater recharge. Ongoing damage could also be leading to long-term loss of soil that takes decades to recover. Restoration of tree cover, soil and land will be critical for recovering food security, health and resilience for people in Gaza. During recovery, it will be important to protect people from contamination while recognising the urgent pressure to re-start food production. A large-scale systematic survey of soils will be needed to determine the range of contaminants present. Undamaged (or less damaged) agricultural and vegetated areas, including Wadi Gaza, should be protected in future plans, retaining vegetation and landuse heterogeneity in reconstruction. Human health and employment, including women’s employment, and recovery of land and soil should be prioritized in economic and environmental rehabilitation.

Marine and coastal ecosystems: The conflict has all but eliminated Gazan fishing livelihoods. With destruction of institutional capacity, there are no effective controls of contamination in the food chain from fish supply, leading to consumption of poisonous fish. Although quantification of the extent and type of contamination is currently impossible, marine ecosystems have clearly been contaminated with munitions, sewage and solid waste.

The health of the marine environment depends on terrestrial environmental management, especially of pollution control. Restoration of wastewater treatment capacity would prevent sewage pollution into the marine environment. Even secondarylevel treated wastewater contains contaminants, including nitrate and phosphate loading that can impact the Mediterranean marine environment and coastal areas. Plans for disposal of debris at sea and land reclamation must be managed with care to protect ecosystems (Cooper et al. 2020) and ensure contaminants are removed so they do not enter the food chain. Land reclamation could also impact fish habitats and fish stocks, erosion and deposition along the shoreline and therefore careful assessment and modelling is essential to ensure decision-making is based on an informed evaluation of environmental, social and other relevant trade-offs.

Urban environment and debris: Destruction is extensive with an estimated 78 per cent of the total structures destroyed or damaged (United Nations Satellite Centre 2025). Debris has increased by 57 per cent since the Preliminary Assessment and is now 20 times greater than the combined total debris generated by all previous conflicts in Gaza since 2008. According to current estimates, more than 61 million tons of debris will require clearing, sorting and recycling or disposal – some of which is contaminated with asbestos, and industrial chemicals and wastes. Sensitivity is required in the recovery of human remains buried in the debris. Recycling is not only a necessity but a practical imperative in the Gaza context: UNEP estimates that recycling 50 per cent of Gaza’s debris— an immensely challenging task—would result in a cost saving of around 20 per cent for the whole debris operations.

Explosions produced significant volumes of dust and contributed to increased cases of respiratory infection with over 37,000 cases reported in June 2025 alone. Unexploded ordnance poses a high risk in densely populated urban areas and need to be safely removed to mitigate risks of future explosion, damage, traumatic injuries and loss of life, as well as environmental impacts if contaminants from munitions are released. A Debris Management Working Group has been established to support risk-managed, efficient and responsive debris interventions across the Gaza Strip.

Rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure should contribute to improving long-term resilience to climate change. Furthermore, urban reconstruction should include public transport systems with provisions for those with impaired mobility including many child amputees.

Solid waste and environmental health: The two constructed solid waste sites in Gaza have been inaccessible to civilians since October 2023. Temporary sites reduce some of the health risks posed by proliferation of waste dumps but they still lack sanitary controls and are near the population. Limited waste disposal options, including fuel for incineration, have also seen separated medical waste recombined with general waste and sent to temporary dump sites.

A new waste disposal strategy will be needed, to cater both for ongoing disposal of solid waste generated by the population into the future, and gradual disposal of temporary and informal waste sites accumulated during the conflict. The strategy should include sorting and recycling of suitable materials and measures to address hazardous and medical waste. Planning infrastructure for reduced levels of waste into the future could support a wider transition to implement circular economy principles.

Air quality: Limited data is available on air quality, due to minimal air-quality monitoring available in Gaza and the localised and transient nature of conflict-related impacts on air quality. Known challenges during the conflict include pollution from explosions and resultant fires during bombing campaigns, and emissions from explosions of munitions and resultant fires in bombed structures, including industrial facilities, which will also have likely released toxic chemicals into the air. The repetitive nature of these releases will likely have a cumulative impact on the environment, including contaminating soil and water resources as discussed earlier. Such air quality issues will not improve substantially until the conflict ceases. Looking ahead, consideration should be given towards reducing the carbon intensity of reconstruction, including recycling of demolition waste, use of low carbon materials and techniques for carbon capture during manufacturing of construction materials.

Environmental management and governance: While it is not yet possible to assess the full extent of environment damage, due to access and security restrictions, it is clear from the information included in this report that the scale of degradation is immense. Environmental risk management and priority-setting will be essential. UNEP recommends undertaking an early ecological and environmental health risk screening exercise, to identify priority areas for assessment and management. Increased institutional capacity within the Government of the State of Palestine will be needed to coordinate environmental elements of recovery and reconstruction, and monitor implementation and action, while ensuring compliance with Palestinian environmental regulations and international obligations. While building national institutional capacity, recovery planners should also draw on Palestinian technical expertise and knowledge held by individuals and institutions (such as universities, the private sector and non-governmental organisations) with experience in environmental planning, monitoring and management of water resources and wastewater, infrastructure design and construction, and waste and debris management.