As garbage piles up and the heat rises in genocide-ravaged Gaza, flies and mosquitoes proliferate in crowded Rafah city and life becomes even more grim for people Israel has displaced who are living in tents.
Gaza: the strain is becoming intolerable
Last week, temperatures already topped 30°c, turning the makeshift shelters made from plastic tarps and sheets into sweltering ovens.
On a sliver of land on the outskirts of the far-southern city on the Egyptian border, about 20 of these tents have been erected, all shaded by a large sheet stretched above them.
But the thin, dark cloth is no match for the blazing sun that has sent temperatures rising fast in late April, making it harder to preserve scarce potable water and food.
Ranine Aouni al-Arian is a Palestinian woman Israel displaced from the devastated nearby city of Khan Yunis. She told Agence France-Presse (AFP):
The water we drink is warm. The children can’t bear the heat and the mosquito and fly bites anymore.
She was holding a baby whose face was covered in insect bites and said that she struggles to find “a treatment or a solution”.
Around her, swarms of flies and other insects were buzzing incessantly.
Aala Saleh, from Jabalia in the north of Gaza, told AFP:
It’s the first time we see so many, because of the pollution and the waste discarded everywhere.
He said sleeping has become nearly impossible inside his tent, “because we wake up from the mosquito bites, and our main concern is to kill these insects”.
Amid the heat and unsanitary conditions, he said he worried about “the spread of disease”.
Israel has created a “living hell”
The World Health Organization warned in January of a leap in infectious diseases such as hepatitis A, blamed on Israel’s continuing onslaught causing unsanitary conditions in camps.
UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, said in a post on X last week that:
Waste continues piling up & running water is scarce… As the weather gets warmer, the risk of disease spreading increases.
Rafah hosts about 1.5 million displaced, according to the UN, more than half of the Gaza Strip’s population which has been besieged and bombarded by Israel for nearly seven months.
On the streets, garbage accumulates as large rubbish containers overflow after basic services broke down long ago amid Israel’s worst ever attack on Gaza – amounting to a ‘plausible’ genocide.
The Israeli army has relentlessly pounded the small Palestinian territory since 7 October. Its military operation has killed at least 34,488 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
Late last month, an UN report said Israel has also destroyed:
waste collection vehicles, facilities and medical waste treatment centres… [leaving] municipalities scrambling to cope with the escalating crisis.
Hanane Saber, a 41-year-old displaced by Israel says her children can no longer bear the steamy tent. Her voice barely audible above the sound of Israeli drones and plane, she told AFP:
We’re living in hell… I’m exhausted from the heat, on top of mosquitoes and flies everywhere that bother us day and night.
Daily tasks such as “cooking and cleaning” or preparing bread dough “are conducted inside the tent in stifling heat”, said Mervat Alian, a displaced woman from Gaza City:
It’s as if we were living in a grave, life doesn’t exist anymore.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
Featured image via TRT World – YouTube
