“The sun rises, the sky is blue, and the Israeli Air Force continues to kill children in Gaza on a daily basis.” This is confirmed by an investigation published in the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz’s weekly supplement this Friday.
The report recalls that homes in Gaza are destroyed, and 1.7 million people live in tents without water, electricity, or a sewage system, amidst widespread health hazards and infectious diseases. Tens of thousands walk around with open wounds. It also states that the sun is scorching, the heat inside the tents is unbearable, and on top of all this, the Israeli air force continues to kill children, noting that 274 children have been killed since the ceasefire last October—meaning that Israel kills a Palestinian child in Gaza every day.
The Hebrew newspaper notes that since the start of the war on Gaza, the occupation forces have killed more than 21,000 children, the vast majority of whom were killed by bombs dropped by planes and drones, while some were killed by sniper fire, or as a result of the collapse of buildings or from shrapnel, and some of them died as a result of injuries to which the remaining health facilities were unable to provide assistance.
Homes in Gaza are destroyed, and 1.7 million people live in tents without water, electricity, or a sewage system, amidst widespread health hazards and infectious diseases.
Haaretz continues in this regard: “Some of the children also died from hunger and disease, but they are not included in the list of children killed here.”
The newspaper says that the last boy killed as of this writing is Mu’taz Abu Sha’ar, a ten-year-old boy, whose father and brother were killed six months ago.
Regarding the killing of Abu Shaar, she adds: “On Monday, the child Mu’taz was sitting inside a tent in the Al-Mawasi area when he was hit by an Israeli bullet. One day before this crime, the nine-year-old girl Tala Abu Matar was killed. A picture of her smiling, wearing a shirt with a rabbit and flowers on it, was published. Next to this picture was her body lying inside a bag, while one of her relatives appeared to be caressing her swollen face.”
Gaza's children under siege from disease
Today, the Institute for Palestine Studies publishes an investigation in this field entitled “ Gaza’s Children Under Siege,” which it opens by saying: “Inside a dilapidated tent in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, the orphaned child “A.M.” wakes up with an itch that has plagued him for weeks. He runs his small fingers over the red blisters spread across his body in an attempt to relieve the burning sensation, while his grandmother watches him with eyes heavy with helplessness. Her concern is no longer limited to providing food or protecting her grandchildren from the danger of displacement, but she is also now waging a daily battle against the diseases that creep between the tents and haunt the children’s bodies.”
The 60-year-old grandmother is taking care of her grandson “A.M.” and ten other orphaned grandchildren, after she lost three of her sons and their wives during the war in various massacres committed by the occupying army during their long displacement journey.
The report by the Institute for Palestine Studies states that this care is provided in a cramped space lacking even the most basic hygiene and environmental safety standards, failing to meet minimum requirements for healthy living. Between the stifling summer heat, water scarcity, and severe overcrowding in the displacement camp, skin infections and infectious diseases are spreading among children, while families are unable to secure treatment or even take preventative measures.
As displacement continues and basic services decline, tents inside the Gaza Strip have become a breeding ground for diseases and epidemics, adding a new layer of pain to the suffering of children that goes beyond the direct effects of war.
She adds: “This story is not an exception in the displacement camps scattered throughout the Gaza Strip, but rather represents a model of the reality experienced by thousands of children who found themselves trapped between the loss of their families on one hand, and the deteriorating health conditions in which they live on the other. With the continued displacement and the decline in basic services, the tents inside the Gaza Strip have turned into a fertile environment for the spread of diseases and epidemics, adding a new layer of pain to the suffering of children that goes beyond the direct effects of war.”
catastrophic situation
According to an investigation by the “Foundation” by Fatima Bashir, the injury of the child “A.M.” does not reflect an individual reality as much as it reveals an aspect of a worsening health crisis within the displacement camps in the Gaza Strip, as the crowded tents have turned into a favorable environment for the spread of infectious diseases among children.
It notes that recent reports from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) indicate a continued rise in rates of skin diseases and external parasites, most notably scabies, along with an increase in cases of chickenpox and acute watery diarrhea among both children and adults.
The “Foundation’s” investigation intersects with the “Haaretz” report: “These diseases do not appear to be separate from the environment in which they arose. According to UN assessments that included more than 1,600 displacement sites in the Gaza Strip, the largest case of dense spread of rodents and insects was recorded in about 80% of the displacement sites, while infectious skin diseases appeared in 48% of those sites. Experts link this reality to the accumulation of waste in the places where citizens live inside the Strip, in addition to the accumulation of wastewater and the difficulty of carrying out environmental control operations in light of the shortage of the necessary materials for that.”
The health situation is becoming increasingly dire as basic necessities for life continue to decline within the displacement camps. UNRWA has warned that water production and pumping systems, as well as wastewater management and waste collection services, are at risk of shutting down due to severe shortages of fuel and spare parts, which threatens to exacerbate health risks and spread more infectious diseases among the displaced, especially children, who are the most vulnerable group in society.
The organization adds, warning: “Under these conditions, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has confirmed that tents in Gaza are no longer temporary shelters for displaced people, but have turned into spaces where all factors of disease intersect, from overcrowding and weak health services, to pollution of the surrounding environment and malnutrition, which makes thousands of children in the Gaza Strip vulnerable to a continuous cycle of infection and health suffering that is difficult to break in the absence of urgent humanitarian and health interventions.”
Difficult challenges
The Institute for Palestine Studies confirms that this increasing spread of chickenpox and scabies among displaced children reflects the extent of the health and environmental deterioration in the shelters and displacement tents within the Gaza Strip, where factors such as severe overcrowding, lack of clean water, and declining sanitation services, combined with limited medical care, create an ideal environment for the spread of infectious diseases.
For her part, an emergency doctor at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital confirms that she receives dozens of cases daily of children suffering from chickenpox and scabies, in addition to many newly emerging skin diseases.
