Outside, waste is piling up and flies and mosquitoes are proliferating, further degrading the living conditions of displaced people living in makeshift tents in Rafah, where 1.5 million people are crammed together.
Last week, temperatures exceeded 30 degrees, transforming these canvas and plastic shelters into furnaces. On land in this Palestinian town on the border with Egypt, around twenty tents have been set up. Above, a large canvas, made of a dark and very fine fabric, has been stretched, providing paltry protection against the sun and the heat which rises at the end of April.
In these conditions, it is impossible to keep the water fresh, “the water we drink is hot”Ranine Aouni al-Arian, displaced from Khan Younes, tells AFP. “Children can no longer stand the heat or the bites of flies and mosquitoes”, she explains. In her arms, her baby’s face is covered with insect spots, and she struggles to find “a treatment or solution” to these bites. Around her gravitates an incessant cloud of flies and insects. “This is the first time we’ve seen it“as much, because of the pollution and the waste thrown everywhere,” explains Aala Saleh, originally from Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory. In her tent, sleeping has become complicated because “we wake up because of mosquito bites”he laments, particularly worried about “disease transmission” by these insects.
The World Health Organization warned in January of a surge in infectious diseases like hepatitis A due to unsanitary conditions.
“Waste continues to pile up and running water becomes scarce. As temperatures warm, the risk of disease spread increases.” in Gaza, warned UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in a publication on X on Friday.
Having become a refuge for nearly a million and a half Palestinians, the vast majority displaced, according to the UN, Rafah is home to more than half of the population of the Gaza Strip, besieged and bombarded by Israel for nearly seven months. .
In a report at the end of March, the UN highlights the destruction in particular “waste collection trucks, medical waste treatment facilities and centers” leaving “municipalities struggling to cope with the escalating crisis”.
“We are living in real hell,” says Hanane Saber, 41-year-old displaced person. Her children suffered from heatstroke, and now stay outside the tent, which has become unlivable. “I also feel exhausted because of the heat, in addition to the mosquitoes and flies that are everywhere and bother us day and night”, she said, her voice barely covering the constant drone of Israeli drones and planes. But daily activities, like “cooking, cleaning” or even preparing the dough for bread “are done inside the tent”overheated, explains Mervat Alian, displaced from Gaza City. “It’s like we’re living in a tomb, life no longer exists,” she laments.
