Gaza’s sanitary crisis and Israeli siege are contributing to the growing threat of cholera.
The Israeli embargo has caused sewage infrastructure to crumble, raising the possibility of cholera and other waterborne illnesses and seriously endangering the people of Gaza.
The issues facing the residents of Gaza are getting worse by the hour as the war between Israel and Hamas heats up. A new source of popular unrest has surfaced recently due to the impending cholera outbreak. According to reports, the region’s lack of sanitization is making the sickness more dangerous.
The United Nations (UN) and international organizations like Oxfam have warned that water and sanitation systems will soon collapse, creating a space for cholera and other diseases.
fatal infectious illnesses to proliferate. The organizations have emphasized that if humanitarian relief is not provided, this condition would eventually become the norm.
Following a Hamas strike, Israeli officials declared an end to all Palestinian land. Following this, fuel and electrical supplies that will power, water, and sewage plants were also turned off, as were water pipelines to Gaza.
The majority of Gaza’s five wastewater treatment plants and its 65 sewage pumping stations have reportedly been forced to cease operations. As a result, untreated sewage is being dumped into the ocean, according to reports from Oxfam.
According to reports, municipalities are unable to pump water to residential areas due to power shortages, and the desalination plants have ceased to function as well.
According to Al Jazeera reports, Waseem Mustaha, a water and sanitation officer with the international nonprofit Oxfam, stated that he feels as though a public health emergency is occurring all around him.
He claimed that although some “people sleep on the streets, in shops, in mosques, in their cars, or on the streets,” his family, which consists of 100 individuals, is fortunate to live in a 200 square meter apartment.
It should be mentioned that since October 7, private vendors have been selling water for twice as much as supermarkets, and there is a shortage of hygiene items in many stores. The price was 30 shekels (US$ 7.40) earlier, but it has since increased to 60 shekels (US$ 15). After the Israeli Defense Forces launched a counterattack, the situation became confused.
According to Al Jazeera reports, Waseem Mustaha, a water and sanitation officer with the international nonprofit Oxfam, stated that he feels as though a public health emergency is occurring all around him.
He claimed that although some “people sleep on the streets, in shops, in mosques, in their cars, or on the stairs,” his family, which consists of 100 individuals, considers themselves fortunate to live in a 200 square meter flat.It should be mentioned that since October 7, private vendors have been selling water for twice as much as supermarkets, and there is a shortage of hygiene items in many stores. The price was 30 shekels (US$ 7.40) earlier, but it has since increased to 60 shekels (US$ 15). After the Israeli Defense Forces conducted a counterattack against Hamas-occupied territory.
Mushtaha expressed worries about the situation and said that his family will run out of water in the next 24 hours and he doesn’t know what will happen after that. “We will go to the market and purchase whatever is available,” he was reported as saying. We have a pessimistic outlook on the future.
Mushtaha also expressed concern regarding kids who miss more than two weeks of school. The age at which children in Gaza should be learning geography and maths is when they are learning how to ration water.
“Every day, I fill a bottle of water for each one and I tell them: Try to manage this,” he said to Al Jazeera. He continued by saying that while at first it was difficult for them, they have now begun to adjust.
Taking his family to Khan Younis, Mushtaha
Mushtaha brought his family, including his wife and kids, to his aunt’s house in Khan Younis after the Israeli government ordered 1.1 million Palestinians living in the northern part of Gaza to evacuate. In Khan Younis, locals have opened their homes to friends and family.
Concerns about water-borne illnesses and dehydration
Experts have emphasized that the number of deaths in Palestine—where 4,137 people have already died—will rise due to dehydration and water-borne illnesses. Gaza’s sanitary crisis and Israeli siege are contributing to the growing threat of cholera.
