A sewage reservoir burst next to a village in the northern Gaza Strip today, killing at least four people and injuring 20, as a torrent of putrid water and waste buried homes.
Two children, aged one and two, were among the dead in Gaza's small Bedouin Village when the sewage overflowed. At least 25 makeshift homes were destroyed or completely buried. As many as 96 were damaged.
It is not yet clear what caused the sewage to erupt from the reservoir, but local residents blamed the municipal government for failing to address the problem.
Aid officials said the capacity of the wastewater plant had been stretched to breaking point. The narrow coastal strip is home to 1.5 million Palestinians and the plant served two densely populated areas, Beit Lahiya and Jabalya.
Local authorities have scant resources. Since the Islamic militant group Hamas came to power a year ago, Western donors have halted direct assistance to the Palestinian government and Israel has frozen most tax revenues.
Hamas said the cut-off in international aid "prevented the government from improving and developing the necessary health and humanitarian services".
An internal World Bank document, obtained by Reuters, said the plant and reservoir were built on high ground, putting the "surrounding area under an imminent threat of possible flooding".
The governor of north Gaza, Ismail Abu Shammala, said the problems started 15 to 20 years ago while Gaza was under direct Israeli occupation.
He said Israeli military operations since the pullout in 2005 and internal Palestinian violence over the last year made it harder to make improvements.