GAZA, (PIC)
The displacement camps in the Gaza Strip are facing a new epidemic disaster, especially with the spread of the highly contagious skin disease “scabies”. This has spread due to the accumulation of sewage water between the tents and the lack of personal hygiene caused by the shortage of water and cleaning supplies.
The health situation of the Palestinians in the camps is becoming increasingly precarious due to the acute shortage of medicines and medical supplies, leading to complications for the sick and injured.
The situation is exacerbated by the scarcity of water and cleaning supplies like soap and bathing facilities, resulting in a lack of personal hygiene amid the overcrowded conditions in the displacement camps, which is causing the rapid spread of skin diseases in particular.
Doctors have confirmed that thousands of patients in the Gaza Strip are facing death due to the shortage of medicines and the Israeli occupation’s destruction of most of the healthcare system in the Strip, as the occupation forces targeted Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare infrastructure during their attacks, putting most hospitals out of service according to official and UN reports.
Sewage water is accumulating between the tents of the displaced persons in the “Al-Nakhil” shelter center in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the center of the Strip, attracting flying insects, primarily mosquitoes, as well as crawling worms and other insects into the tents of the displaced.
The director of the medical center in the shelter center, Sami Hamid warned of a new environmental disaster in the displacement camps regarding the scabies disease and its spread and said that “the displacement camps are facing an epidemic disaster regarding the scabies disease and its spread due to the tremendous population density.”
He attributed the spread of scabies to “the formation of sewage water pools, which are a fertile environment for the propagation of insects, especially in the absence of spraying them with chemicals for more than 9 months.”
Hamid told Anadolu Agency, “For 9 months, no local, international or civil entity has pumped sewage water to the treatment stations due to the power outage, nor has it sprayed the sewage water accumulations and pools, which led to the spread of scabies.”
The director of the medical center added that the health stores are suffering from the depletion of about 13 types of treatments for skin diseases, describing the availability of medicines and medical treatments for skin diseases in the Gaza Strip as a miracle.
It is worth noting that the medical authorities announced last June the loss of 70 percent of the list of essential medicines from the health stores, warning of the imminent depletion of medicines and medical supplies for specialized diseases such as cancer and kidney failure.
The Israeli occupation continues its war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which led to the martyrdom and injury of more than 125,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them children, women and the elderly, and thousands of missing persons.
