Report On the Joint Service Council Response and Challenges During the War on Gaza

Introduction 

Since the start of the ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip, the Joint Service Council for Solid Waste Management (JSC) of local government units (LGUs) in the Khan Yunis, Rafah and Central Gaza governorates has continued to provide solid waste collection and transfer services. Due to the aggression, the population in the JSC area of jurisdiction has multiplied. Some 2 million citizens have moved to central and southern Gaza, all distributed to approximately 200 shelters. This resulted in an unprecedented increase in the quantities of waste generation, currently estimated at 1,400 tonnes per day, up from 500 tonnes per day prior to the war. This represents a rise of 180%. 

JSC response 

JSC personnel face difficult circumstances every day. The workforce has also declined due to individual conditions of JSC staff. JSC facilities and heavy machinery sustained grave damage during the war. Still, the JSC has so far continued its efforts as follows: 

1. Collect and transfer municipal solid waste to temporary collection points: 
   • Since the beginning of the aggression, the JSC has collected some 99,600 tonnes of municipal solid waste, using 22 dump trucks which worked at a rate of 55 trips per day. 
   • To ensure waste collection and transfer services are delivered during the emergency, the JSC recruited 16 drivers and 35 workers on a per diem basis. 
2. Provide waste collection services at shelters: 
   • Out of 200, 110 (55%) shelters benefit from the JSC services. 
   • The JSC has provided and distributed 150 waste containers to shelters. 
3. Provide medical waste collection and disposal services: 
   • The JSC established a taskforce for medical waste disposal at the Emergency Office in Khan Yunis. 
   • Since the start of the aggression, almost 55,000 kg of medical waste have been collected from 25 hospitals and health centres. 
4. Conclude a memorandum of understanding to provide emergency response for waste disposal services at emergency random dumpsites in southern Gaza: 
   • Reduce and regulate random waste landfilling. 
   • Control insect and rodent vectors. 
   • Ensure homogeneous and integrated solid waste management operations through a comprehensive service cycle. 
   • Post-war stage. 
5. Coordinate with and provide needed support to member LGUs to ensure continued service provision: 
   • Compile and send to donors a list of emergency needs, including fuel and workforce, of member LGUs. 
   • Coordinate with the Palestinian Employment Fund, providing over 200 temporary employment opportunities to workers, technicians, and graduates at member LGUs. 
   • Provide three JSC heavy machineries to member LGUs to lessen the burden on other services (two wheeled excavators and one sewage suction truck). 
6. Coordinate with international organisations and donors to ensure continued JSC service provision: 
   • Received multiple grants from the UNDP, including: 
     • Fuel needed for operations. 
     • Contracts for the maintenance of JSC machineries. 
     • Contracts with the private sector for waste collection and transfer. 
   • Received finding from JICA to provide spare parts and oils for JSC machinery. 
   • Received a favourable response from the ICRC to provide temporary employment contracts for JSC staff for one renewable month. 

Humanitarian challenges

1. Due to its limited capacity, the JSC is unable to meet financial obligations and pay staff salaries. During the aggression, 15% of the monthly wage bill has been paid to the JSC staff. 
2. The JSD faces difficulty providing relief aid (food parcels and shelter tents) to 59 out of 67 (88%) of the JSC staff who have been displaced. While two were killed, over 20 other JSC staff were injured due to the aggression. 
3. The JSC is incapable of fulfilling emergency medical needs for JSC staff and their families, including wives, children, elderly, and persons with disabilities. 

Technical and financial challenges 

1. Irregular and unsustainable fuel supplies provided through the UNDP grant, particularly after the military operation in Rafah and continued closure of main crossings. This has resulted in: 
   • Irregular provision and recurrent disruption of waste collection services by JSC and private sector dump trucks. 
   • Heavy machinery has ceased to work for an indefinite period, hindering and rendering the management and operation of emergency random dumpsites extremely difficult.
2. Operation of the Al-Fukhari sanitary landfill has come to a complete halt, leading to: 
   • Interrupting final waste disposal services, suspending the collection of a regular payment estimated at NIS 50,000 per month from the UNRWA and private sector. 
   • Widespread random dumpsites within the JSC area of jurisdiction, leaving a devastating impact on pubic health and the environment. 
   • Disrupting maintenance works of JSC waste containers. While many were damaged, a sufficient number of garbage receptacles is not available to provide services. 
3. Impossible collection of due payments, totalling NIS 3 million, to the JSC for services delivered to all 17 member LGUs due to the following: 
   • Meagre financial resources of member LGUs given that service fees have not been collected from citizens. 
   • Lack of support and funding from government bodies and international donors. 
4. Extraordinarily difficult working conditions and significant responsibilities and burdens on JSC personnel, who have not earned their due salaries since the beginning of the aggression. (The JSC provides intermittent unsatisfactory financial incentives to staff). 
5. JSC reduced ability to provide needed periodic preventive maintenance and emergency repairs of machinery. Some vehicles have been out of service because of: 
   • Total destruction of the JSC maintenance workshop and central warehouse, including equipment, spare parts and stockpiles. 
   • High maintenance cost, shortage of spare parts, and shutdown of external maintenance workshops. 
   • Inability to purchase wheel tyres and batteries due to prohibitively high prices and scarcity on the local market. 
6. Notable rise in operating expenses and costs of waste collection services due to increasing waste generation on a daily basis.