(Newswire.net — February 23, 2015) — A severe winter storm in the region caused snowfalls that accumulated large amount of water, so Israeli authorities opened the floodgates to discharge the accumulation. This caused flooding in the valley below. Hundreds of houses were flooded instantly with water levels up to 11ft. Reportedly all Palestinian families from the valley have been evacuated and there were no casualties, however, they lost everything and the floods caused substantial material damage.
Residents of eastern Gaza reported injuries as well as deaths of livestock and poultry, caused by the Israeli action which allegedly came without prior notification, Gaza’s Civil Defense Directorate (CDD) said Sunday.
“The [Israeli] army opened the floodgates of a canal leading to central Gaza, which resulted in the removal of sand mounds along the border with Israel,” the CDD announced, according to Palestinian News Agency WAPA. “Opening the levees to the canal has led to the flooding of several Palestinian homes, and we had to quickly evacuate the afflicted citizens.”
In addition, the flood forced the closure of the main road connecting the al-Mughraqa district and the Nusseirat refugee camp south of Gaza city, leaving hundreds of Palestinians trapped in the floods.
CDD spokesman Mohammed al-Midana warned that Israelis using excuse of water accumulation plan to open more dams which will flood everything in a water-way from the Israeli territory through the valley and into the Mediterranean Sea.
The move Israel made create not only created a temporally problem until the water pulls out, but also long term problems because the local agriculture was also affected.
“We are appealing to human rights organizations and international rights organizations to intervene to prevent further action,” Brigadier Gerneral Said Al-Saudi, chief of the civil defense agency in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.
This is not the first time that Israeli authorities have opened the Gaza Valley dams, Gaza’s Civil Defense Directorate reported. Almost every year without prior notice, Israel opens the floodgates to their dams in the direction of Gaza to discharge massive quantities of excessive water that accumulated during heavy rains or snowfall in the Naqab region, the CCD said in the statement.