Over 200 hospitalized in Tunisia’s Gabes as anger over pollution crisis grows
President Kais Saied is facing one of his biggest challenges yet as demands for the closure of the city’s phosphate processing plant increase.
New pollution cases were reported in Tunisia’s Gabes on Wednesday, as some political parties criticize President Kais Saied’s handling of the worsening pollution crisis in the city.
Tunisian and Arabic-language media reported that new suffocation cases, including among children, were treated at the Regional Hospital in the southeastern Tunisian city on Wednesday.
وصول حالات جديدة مصابة بالاختناق إلى مستشفى قابس الجهوي في تونس، شملت طلاباً وأهالي، وسط تصاعد الأزمة البيئية في المدينة pic.twitter.com/LAopvXn6IS
— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) October 22, 2025
The local news outlet Mosaique FM reported that there were more than 40 new suffocation cases among students.
More than 200 people have been hospitalized in Gabes in recent weeks for respiratory distress and gas poisoning. Residents say the health issues are being caused by pollution stemming from the phosphates processing plant run by the state-owned Tunisian Chemical Group.
