The IDF Civil Administration’s Environmental Protection Unit has confiscated 215 vehicles and trucks throughout 2020 that carried waste illegally in Judea and Samaria and were on the way to using illegal dumps.
The Civil Administration has launched an extensive operation to eradicate the phenomenon of dumping waste at pirate sites, which causes serious environmental hazards and harms the health of residents of the area.
The David Unit, a designated task force established in 2014, has to date seized about 1,350 trucks that have been caught while carrying waste illegally, without the necessary permits and approvals.
The unit’s inspectors have been working to catch the trucks in real-time when they reach the crossings and are still on the roads, thus preventing them from arriving at pirate dumps in Judea and Samaria.
Since the beginning of 2021, 13 trucks have already been confiscated, of which four were seized in the last two days while carrying electronics, iron waste, and building materials, which were to be dumped at pirate waste disposal sites in the area.
Beni Elbaz, the Civil Administration Environmental Protection Unit Staff Officer, said Tuesday that “the phenomenon of dumping waste throughout Judea and Samaria is a destructive phenomenon that often leads to waste fires and the formation of serious environmental hazards.”
“The thick smoke [emanating from burned trash] as well as the piles of waste that accumulate in our nature, directly harm the health of us all. The Civil Administration is doing everything in its power to combat the phenomenon, and we will not sit back while criminals carry out destructive activities to our environment,” he declared.
Hundreds of pirate waste sites in Judea and Samaria have been shut down in recent years.