GAZA CITY, Palestine / ISTANBUL

Gaza City Municipality warned Wednesday that the city is facing a “catastrophic reality” after Israeli attacks destroyed more than 80% of its infrastructure since October 2023, calling for the immediate establishment of a land, sea, and air bridge to deliver equipment and humanitarian aid to the enclave.

The municipality launched a campaign to reopen main streets and remove rubble as part of an early recovery phase, immediately after a ceasefire agreement took effect on Friday, spokesman Husni Mehanna told Anadolu.

“The initiative requires urgent funding of $140 million,” he said.

The Israeli army has struck Gaza with over 200,000 tons of explosives, including internationally banned 200-pound bombs since the start of the war in October 2023, according to the latest statistics from Gaza’s government media office.

Mehanna said the municipality is working with Qatar's Gaza Reconstruction Committee to facilitate the return of displaced residents, despite having only one heavy bulldozer after most of its equipment was destroyed. The municipality has had to rely on rented machinery from the private sector.

The spokesman estimated that 80–85% of the city’s infrastructure was damaged, noting that the Israeli army destroyed more than 810 kilometers of city streets, reducing them to dirt roads.

Mehanna reported that Israeli strikes destroyed 56 water wells, damaged dozens more, and destroyed four main tanks and over 110,000 meters of pipelines. This has caused an 85% shortfall in water supply, leaving entire neighborhoods without access for days.

More than 250,000 tons of solid waste are piled up across residential areas, he added, warning of an impending environmental and health disaster unless municipal crews are allowed to reach the Jihar al-Dik landfill in the Israeli-occupied eastern part of the city.

He said that 85% of municipal vehicles were destroyed, with the remainder inoperable, cautioning of a complete collapse of essential services if machinery and fuel are not delivered immediately.

Mehanna called for the creation of a land, sea, and air bridge to bring in equipment and aid, emphasizing that the scale of destruction exceeds the capacity of local authorities and requires immediate international intervention.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a plan he laid out on Sept. 29 to bring a ceasefire to Gaza, release all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip. The first phase of the deal came into force on Friday.

Phase two of the plan calls for the establishment of a new governing mechanism in Gaza, without Hamas’ participation, the formation of a multinational force, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it largely uninhabitable.