Experts warn of the spread of epidemics and diseases among hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip due to the collapse of healthcare infrastructure, emphasizing the urgent need for a ceasefire to enhance humanitarian response.
Reports from UN agencies confirm the unprecedented spread of epidemics and diseases in Gaza, particularly acute respiratory infections, severe diarrhea, waterborne diseases, and viral hepatitis.
This dire situation arises from the lack of healthcare services, personal hygiene facilities, destruction of waste disposal infrastructure, sewage systems, and clean drinking water availability.
Talal Abu Zarifa, a member of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, stresses the imperative to pressure for a ceasefire, restore hospitals, and establish new field hospitals.
Failure to take concrete steps, he warns, exposes the Palestinian people to death, hunger, epidemics, and diseases.
Abu Zarifa highlights the crowded living conditions in Gaza amidst the spread of garbage and medical waste in streets, hospitals, and schools where refugees reside.
He underscores the devastated sewage infrastructure, which pours into streets and roads, creating a breeding ground for diseases, microbes, and viruses that plague the Palestinian population.
Respiratory, skin, and internal diseases have proliferated due to the complete breakdown of the medical system.
In a related context, Taysir Abu Jamaa, a Political Science professor at the University of Palestine, points out that overcrowding of displaced persons in close proximity and infrastructure destruction during the war have led to epidemic outbreaks.
Displaced individuals live in schools under inhumane conditions without healthcare, facilitating the rapid spread of diseases. Furthermore, hospital and medical center destruction has resulted in the absence of healthcare.
Abu Jamaa explains that the lack of safe drinking water and the prevalence of contaminated water have caused hundreds to contract viral hepatitis. In addition, the absence of personal hygiene facilities, waste accumulation, stray animals, and inadequate medical supplies and medications have led to numerous patient deaths.
He urges the World Health Organization and international humanitarian organizations to intervene to halt the war and prevent disease spread.
The World Health Organization reports over 312,000 cases of acute respiratory infections, over 220,000 cases of severe diarrhea (more than half under five years old), and more than 6,600 cases of waterborne diseases in Gaza.
Moreover, there is a significant spread of viral hepatitis. The organization highlights that overcrowding in shelters, healthcare system disruption, water and sewage network breakdowns pose another risk of infectious disease spread.
Fuel shortages have led to water desalination plant closures, increasing the risk of bacterial infections. Fuel scarcity has also halted waste collection, creating an environment conducive to the rapid and widespread spread of diseases.
