Gaza’s ability to handle garbage, treat sewage and provide clean water has been all but destroyed after eight months of brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas. Aid groups say this has worsened already harsh living conditions and increased health risks for hundreds of thousands of people without adequate shelter, food and medicine.
Hepatitis A cases are on the rise, and doctors fear that as the weather gets warmer, cholera outbreaks will become more likely unless there are significant changes to living conditions. The United Nations, aid groups and local officials are working to build latrines, repair water lines and get desalination plants running again.
Palestinian children at a garbage dump in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, June 20. Photo: AP
"The stench makes you nauseous immediately"
"Flies are in our food. If we try to sleep, flies, insects and cockroaches will crawl all over us," said Adel Dalloul, a 21-year-old whose family lives in a tent camp on the beach near the city of Nuseirat in central Gaza.
More than a million Palestinians lived in hastily constructed tent camps in Rafah before Israel launched its offensive in May. Since fleeing Rafah, many have sought refuge in more crowded and unsanitary areas in southern and central Gaza, which doctors describe as a breeding ground for disease, especially as temperatures regularly reach 32 degrees Celsius.
"The stench in Gaza is enough to make you instantly nauseous," said Sam Rose, director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Anwar al-Hurkali, who lives with his family in a tent camp in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, said he could not sleep for fear of scorpions and rodents. He did not let his children out of the tent because he was worried they would get sick from the pollution and mosquitoes. "We cannot stand the smell of sewage. It is killing us," he said.
The United Nations estimates that nearly 70% of Gaza's water and sanitation facilities have been destroyed or damaged by heavy Israeli shelling, including the territory's five wastewater treatment facilities, along with water desalination plants, wastewater pumping stations, wells and reservoirs.
Workers who once managed the city’s water and sewage systems have been displaced and some have died. This month, an Israeli strike in Gaza City killed five government workers who were repairing water wells.
Despite staff shortages and broken equipment, some desalination plants and wastewater pumps remain operational, hampered by fuel shortages. Residents often wait in line for hours to collect drinking water from delivery trucks, taking whatever they can carry home with them. The scarcity of clean water forces families to frequently bathe in dirty water.
Dalloul said he lined up to get water from a street vendor. “We found out that the water was salty, polluted and full of bacteria. We found worms in the water. I drank the water,” he said. “I had gastrointestinal problems and diarrhea, and my stomach hurts to this day.”
"We live in garbage"
The World Health Organization has declared an outbreak of hepatitis A, which as of early June had resulted in 81,700 reported cases of jaundice – a common symptom. The disease is spread mainly when uninfected people consume water or food contaminated with feces.
Palestinians collect water near one of the few operational desalination plants in Gaza, June 20. Photo: AP
Standing barefoot on a street in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Abu Shadi Afana, 62, compared the pile of rubbish next to him to a “waterfall”. He said trucks continued to dump rubbish despite families living in tents nearby.
“No one gives us tents, food or water, and on top of that, we live in garbage,” Mr. Afana said. The garbage attracts bugs he has never seen before in Gaza, small insects that cling to his skin. When he lies down, he says he feels like they are “eating” his face.
There are few other places to dump rubbish. When the Israeli army took control of a 1km buffer zone along the border with Gaza, the two main landfills in the eastern towns of Khan Younis and Gaza City were banned.
As a result, landfills have emerged. Palestinians who have fled their shelters say they have no choice but to pitch tents near the garbage.
Palestinians at a garbage dump in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, June 20. Photo: AP
Doctors in Gaza are also concerned that a cholera outbreak could be imminent. "Crowded conditions, lack of water, heat, and poor sanitation are all prerequisites for cholera," said Dr. Joanne Perry, who works in southern Gaza.
Most of the patients were suffering from diseases or infections caused by poor sanitation, she said. Scabies, gastrointestinal diseases and rashes were common. The WHO said more than 485,000 cases of diarrhoea had been reported since the conflict began.
“When we went to the hospital to ask for diarrhea medicine, they said there was no medicine, and I had to go outside the hospital to buy it. But where would I get the money?” Al-Hurkali said. “I am 21 years old. I have to start my life. Now I am living in front of a pile of garbage.”
Ngoc Anh (according to AP)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nguoi-dan-palestine-song-trong-rac-va-nuoc-thai-duoi-cai-nong-thieu-dot-o-gaza-post301428.html
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