It is a very difficult combination of not having water, garbage everywhere and high temperatures, something that can cause the appearance of several communicable diseases, said World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman Tarik Jašarević, who stated that Some 470,000 cases of diarrhea have been recorded since the beginning of the war.
Such a situation may be aggravated by Israel’s decision to prevent the UN from collecting garbage from landfills in Gaza, which is causing extremely terrible sanitary conditions, raising fears of the further spread of diseases.
Piles of garbage that rot in the heat accumulate throughout the Strip among the displaced, something that generates other storms, which they cannot clean either due to limitations on the import and distribution of fuel, said the spokesperson for the United Nations Agency. United Nations for Refugees, Louise Wateridge.
“People live among garbage, surrounded by garbage. It is a very difficult situation. In addition, people build shelters with plastics and the temperature inside is even higher than outside. “They are really unbearable conditions,” she commented.
The WHO has described the health and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip as critical, calling it a dead zone with much of its territory destroyed.
He also warned that the scorching heat in the territory could exacerbate health problems for displaced Palestinians, while the World Food Programme warned that a major public health crisis is looming in Gaza due to a lack of clean water, food and medical supplies.
The UN health agency also estimated that more than 10,000 sick and injured people need treatment outside the Strip and called for medical corridors to be urgently established.
Gaza authorities have reported more than 37,700 deaths, in addition to more than 520 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7 in operations by Israeli forces or in attacks perpetrated by settlers.
mem/crc
