The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. The lack of power has caused (among many other hardships) the sewage to back up and run down the streets.

Saifi lives next to what has become a newly formed pool of waste. This used to be the street leading to home. “It’s getting worse day by day,” says neighbor Said Ammar, an engineer, and father of four.

The sewage treatment plant in al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City requires 20,000 liters of fuel a day. Last week Israel ceased delivery of all fuel and supplies to Gaza. The consequences have been catastrophic.

Without fuel to pump it away, the waste backs up, flooding the streets and clogging the plumbing. The local ministry of health has declared this an environmental catastrophe.

Doctors have warned that a medical catastrophe could follow by way of spread of cholera and other diseases. That is at a time when not even life-saving medical services are on offer any more.

Of course. Like night follows day, we know that disease will follow raw sewage running down the street. Millions and millions of people in poverty stricken areas of the world, especially little children, have died for lack of sanitation, clean water and simple medicines.

But Israel is not a third-world country. Israel has the resources to end this suffering (paid for by US citizens), but they will not release the supplies. We know this blockade, unless it’s stopped immediately, will result in more suffering and death of innocent civilians. Let nobody say, “Oh, alas! Who could have predicted that people would die for lack of electricity, food and clean water?”

I hope the Israeli government is thinking this through carefully. There’s a limit to how many dead, innocent Palestinian children you can brush under the rug before everyone wises up to the fact that you’re murdering them in cold blood.