Israel’s war against Gaza live: 48 dead in three air strikes within an hour in Gaza | News on the Israel-Palestine conflict

More than 700,000 people could be at risk of a “health and environmental crisis” as sewage pumping stations in the central Gaza town of Deir el-Balah have stopped operating due to a lack of fuel, local officials say.

In a statement, city authorities said fuel supplies needed to operate water pumping stations had run out and warned of “streets flooded with sewage” and the spread of disease.

Ismail Sarsour, an official with the city’s emergency committee, told AFP that the closure affected more than 140 sites where tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war had sought refuge.

The fuel shortage is the result of an Israeli military blockade of the border crossings to the Gaza Strip, which also prevents the delivery of urgently needed food, clean water and medicine to the war zone.