RO’A Bulletin – No. 37
While global media and international actors have turned their focus toward Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and the urgency of reconstruction, a critical component of the “post-war” landscape remains largely unaddressed: the environmental aftermath. The mass devastation caused by repeated military assaults has left behind a staggering volume of war debris, hazardous materials, and ecological destruction. Proposals for reconstruction and “reclamation” have already included suggestions to dump rubble into the sea, raising red flags in environmental, legal, and ethical frameworks.
This bulletin investigates how the management and disposal of “post-war” waste in Gaza is not simply a technical issue, but a deeply political one, tied to questions of sovereignty, environmental justice, and spatial erasure. As Gaza faces over 23 million tonnes of debris, much of it chemically contaminated, there is growing concern that improper disposal practices—especially sea dumping—will inflict long-term ecological damage, compromise the fishing industry and trigger a possible ripple effect extending to deep water and Coral reefs. All this amounts to a form of structural violence.
Drawing on academic literature, environmental law, and field-based assessments, this analysis urges that rubble and toxic remnants must be seen as part of the political terrain of “post-war” Gaza, not merely physical remnants to be cleared. The bulletin closes with calls for legal accountability under international environmental conventions and insists that ecological repair must be part of any just reconstruction agenda.
