On Tuesday, Hebrew media revealed that an Israeli soldier was killed as a result of a fungal infection in the Gaza Strip, while about 10 other wounded soldiers suffered from similar conditions.
The Israeli Ynet news website said that a soldier was seriously injured in his limbs on the battlefield and then treatment-resistant fungi appeared on his body, without clarifying the date of his injury or the type of fungus.
The website, which is the online version of Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, added: He was transferred to Assuta Hospital in Ashdod (south), where doctors tried every possible treatment, including experimental treatments from abroad.
He added that the doctors brought in specialists as much as they could, and finally the fungus took over the organs in the injured person’s body, until his death was determined.
He continued: The fungi may have originated in soil contaminated with sewage, noting that a number of soldiers returned from the battlefield infected with various fungi and infections.
About 10 wounded soldiers were infected with similar fungi, which may have been caused by soil contamination with sewage, according to the same website.
Sewage
In mid-December, the Gaza municipality warned of the danger of areas north of the city being flooded with sewage, as the pumps stopped working due to the running out of fuel, which would cause major environmental and health disasters.
The website quoted the head of the Israeli Infectious Diseases Society (non-governmental), Galia Rahav, as saying that cases of resistant fungal and bacterial infections had been diagnosed among infected soldiers, especially extremity injuries.
Rahav said: We know that there are highly resistant bacteria in Gaza. This information was accumulated in studies we conducted in the past with doctors from there.
She concluded: We see this among the soldiers who returned from the battlefield. Contact with soil and clay there causes exposure to such fungi, according to the same site.
At the beginning of this December, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper revealed that a number of Israeli soldiers participating in the war on the Gaza Strip were suffering from dysentery (inflammation and disorder in the intestines) and poisoning, which causes cases of severe diarrhea and high temperature, which requires their evacuation from combat sites. .