Israeli Officials Fear Effect of Gaza Garbage Strike
(IsraelNN.com) Gaza is dirtier than usual these days, thanks to a municipal workers' strike that has seen garbage collectors, among others, staying off the job for nearly a week now. Workers are owed several months of back salary, and have not yet been paid by the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority.
Israeli officials expressed concern that Gaza's garbage could negatively affect the regional environment in the southern Negev, as mosquitoes and flies begin to thrive and multiply in the fetid conditions, exacerbated by the usual spring warming which encourages the spread of these pests. "Bad enough we have to put up with their Kassam missiles, but now they will be sending us their diseases as well," said one Negev regional official.