Summer and the blockade threaten Gaza’s displaced with a health catastrophe
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The United Nations has warned of a new health crisis in the Gaza Strip, with skin diseases spreading in the densely populated camps across the territory, amid fears that the situation will worsen with the arrival of summer.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that the number of skin infections in the Gaza Strip has tripled in recent months. Rising temperatures, overcrowding, deteriorating sanitation, and a shortage of clean water have created a breeding ground for scabies, chickenpox, and other skin diseases, particularly among children.
With summer approaching, families and healthcare officials in the besieged territory are doing everything they can to prevent a repeat of the 2014 outbreak, when at least 150,000 people in Gaza suffered from skin diseases. The spread of diseases and the inability of healthcare workers to cope with and treat them are due to the shortage of medical equipment and medicines resulting from the genocidal war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. Despite the ceasefire in place in the Gaza Strip since last October, Israel continues to bomb and target various areas of the Strip, while maintaining a comprehensive blockade on its inhabitants, which has severely restricted the import of essntial medical equipment.
