Gaza ravaged by rats and disease
Yasmeen al-Jamala was woken in the night by the terrified screams of her month-old son Adam. His father Yousef al-Ustaz scrambled for his phone in the dark and saw blood and six deep bitemarks on baby Adam’s cheeks.
Too big for insects or mice, Yousef then saw a rat the size of a rabbit and the family froze in horror in their tent. Three quarters of Gazans now live in tents with little resistance to increasing threats to their health and among rubble and open sewage.
Like the plagues of ancient Egypt they have had to endure one after the other: the destruction of their homes and homelessness, starvation, disease, lack of sanitation and now a plague of rodents. Israel’s two-year bombardment of Gaza destroyed the sewage and the drinking water systems.
Raw sewage flows down the streets, seeping into the underground aquifers. Uncollected mountains of garbage line the encampments, flies swarm and there is an unbearable stench. The rat attack on Adam left al-Jamala with recurring nightmares. “I have lost my ability to sleep,” she said. “I always see my children being attacked in my dreams.”
Adam is among hundreds of children treated in Gaza’s hospitals for rat bites, as well as digestive and respiratory illnesses worsened by the widespread infestation. Dr Saeed Ma’ruf, physician at al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, said the newborn arrived at the hospital in “critical condition…These bites can carry bacteria that are very dangerous.” Rodents transmit diseases such as kidney conditions, plague, leprosy and salmonella.
In addition, a mystery disease has been sweeping across Gaza. Doctors think it could be a mutant of flu or Covid-19. High fever, widespread pain and severe vomiting are symptoms. There has been a steep rise in infectious diseases like hepatitis, scabies, chickenpox and diarrhoea. Polio has been detected in sewage water. A genocide by disease.
Dr Ahmed Muhanna, acting head of Al-Awda Hospital, said hospitals were operating with extreme shortages of even the most basic medical supplies. “We lack sterile gauze in operating rooms. Antibiotics are critically scarce. The situation is deteriorating at a pace we have never witnessed before.” Due to the acute shortage of raw materials and Israel’s ban on the entry of construction supplies, displaced families have been forced to dig holes in the ground.
Stagnant wastewater in these conditions has created fertile breeding grounds for rodents and insects. “The war decimated infrastructure, especially sewage networks. It left over 25 million tonnes of rubble in Gaza City alone, along with 350,000 tonnes of solid waste accumulating in residential neighbourhoods,” he added.
