Scenes of decomposing corpses have become common in the Gaza Strip in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression since the seventh of last October, which has left – as of yesterday, Tuesday – 20,915 martyrs and 54,918 wounded, most of them children and women. What diseases may result from the spread of corpses in Gaza?
Yesterday, Tel Aviv Tribune monitored the bodies of Palestinian martyrs decomposing in the streets of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, where the people were unable to bury them due to the intensity of the Israeli bombing and the inability of ambulances and civil defense to arrive.
For its part, Anatolia Agency quoted eyewitnesses and local sources as saying that these bodies remained in the streets since the start of the Israeli ground attack on Gaza on October 27 last year. Before that, there were testimonies about other bodies left on the roads and parts of them mauled by dogs.
Special photos from Tel Aviv Tribune also showed the bodies of martyrs in the streets of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, and the Palestinians were unable to bury them either.
Decomposing infant corpses
At the end of last November, a reporter transmitted shocking pictures from Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital, showing the decomposed bodies of children in the care unit, which the occupation army prevented them from being removed and buried.
At that time, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory confirmed that it had documented the discovery of 5 infants dead and in a state of decomposition in the nursery of Al-Nasr Hospital after they had been left to their fate for 3 weeks, in what “may amount to a horrific execution and a crime against humanity.” The Observatory called for the formation of an independent international investigation committee into the incident.
What diseases may result from the spread of corpses in the Gaza Strip?
Scientifically, corpses pose a minimal health risk and are not a source of epidemics, and they usually do not spread diseases among the public. But this applies if there are health and care services and employees who handle it and bury it in a proper way.
As for Gaza, this is not the case, as the Israeli army destroyed the health sector and targeted medical personnel, and the bodies remain dumped in the streets for days and weeks, and no one can pull them out and bury them.
Is there a risk to people handling dead bodies?
People who handle dead bodies (rescue workers, morgue staff, etc.) have a slight risk of contracting tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, and diarrheal diseases. However, these diseases do not last more than two days in a corpse. Workers can reduce risks by wearing rubber boots and gloves and practicing basic hygiene (such as washing their hands).
But in Gaza, there is a shortage of equipment such as gloves, face masks, sterilizers, and hygiene supplies such as soap, and therefore there is a greater risk of infection for those working in transporting and burying bodies.
Can dead bodies contaminate water?
Possibly, yes. Excretions often leak from corpses, which may contaminate rivers or other water sources with diarrheal diseases.
What diseases and problems may result from the spread of corpses in the Gaza Strip?
Unburied bodies in Gaza – especially with rain – can pose these risks:
1- The spread of diseases and water pollution
Rainwater can wash bodily fluids and pollutants from dead bodies, which may contaminate water sources that people rely on for drinking, cooking, and bathing, leading to the spread of diseases, especially diarrheal diseases.
In Gaza, the combination of increasing numbers of decomposing bodies, severe water shortages, lack of hygiene and sanitation services, and lack of medical care is increasing the risk of cholera, a disease whose symptoms include diarrhoea.
2- Attracting vectors (organisms that transmit diseases)
Unburied corpses can attract insects and rodents that can carry disease-causing organisms. Insects and mice can spread the infection. The corpses may also attract other animals that may feed on them, especially in the absence of food, such as cats and dogs.
3- Airborne pollutants
Decomposing gases and particles can travel through the air, which can cause respiratory problems for people in the vicinity.
4- Impact on mental health
The sight and smell of unburied bodies can have psychological effects on communities, causing psychological trauma.
The causes of diarrheal diseases include:
- Infection due to bacteria, viruses or parasites, most of which are spread through water contaminated with feces. Infection becomes more common when there is a scarcity of clean water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. Rotavirus and Escherichia are the most common and most important causes of diarrhea.
- Water sources contaminated with human feces, for example from sewage, toilets and dead bodies. Animal feces also contain microbes that can cause disease.
Health disaster
Last November 18, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory warned that a health catastrophe was looming in the Gaza Strip, where bodies were still scattered in the streets and under the rubble of buildings destroyed by the Israeli aggression. The human rights organization pointed out the danger of the spread of diseases such as cholera and immune system disorders throughout the Strip.
The Geneva-based human rights organization said that the Gaza Strip lacks the basic services necessary to search for bodies under the rubble, whether due to the lack of heavy machinery and equipment needed by rescue and civil defense teams, or the complete paralysis of ambulances and medical teams. In addition, power outages make it difficult to place bodies in the morgue, leading to improper burials.
Prolonged “public decomposition” of dead bodies leads to the transmission of serious diseases, including blood-borne viruses and tuberculosis. The Euro-Med said that gastrointestinal infections such as cholera can also spread easily, through direct contact with corpses leaking feces, dirty clothes, or contaminated tools or vehicles.
Improper burial and random burial of bodies in mass graves may lead to various diseases such as cholera, which may spread due to the presence of bodies near or in water sources. The human rights organization said that the presence of bodies near or in water sources is extremely disturbing.
This can lead to health problems such as diarrhea and other diseases because the bodies may leak feces and contaminate water sources. In addition, some bacteria and viruses may remain active in the body for a period of time after death, such as hepatitis and tuberculosis.
The organization added that some animals, including birds, rodents and insects, can feed on corpses and spread diseases, such as mosquitoes that cause malaria.
Targeting hospitals
Fears of the spread of epidemics in Gaza are increasing, in light of the continued Israeli aggression and systematic destruction of the medical sector and targeting of hospitals, including Al-Awda Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, which turned into a theater of Israeli military operations during the past days, after being targeted several times and imposing a siege on it, killing, wounding and arresting it. A number of its medical teams, employees, wounded and displaced people inside.
Al Awda Hospital has not received any medical or food aid for more than two months, and it exhausted most of its stock of these materials during the past weeks before it went out of service and contented itself with providing modest medical care to its wounded.
Bakr Abu Safiya, a surgeon at Al-Awda Hospital, told Anadolu Agency that he has been acting as hospital director, Ahmed Muhanna, since he was arrested by Israeli forces about 6 days ago.
Abu Safiya adds that they have been in the hospital since the first day of the war, and most of the medical teams and employees here have not left for their homes until today, in continuous work for more than 80 days.
He continues, “We received hundreds of wounded and martyrs and performed hundreds of surgeries, most of them on the extremities.”
Doctor Abu Safiya talks about how the Israeli forces dealt with the hospital, saying: The hospital was tightly besieged for 18 days, which ended about a week ago.
At the beginning of the aggression, Israeli warplanes targeted the third floor of the hospital, and three doctors and a wounded person’s attendant were martyred, and two nurses working with Doctors Without Borders were injured, according to Abu Safiya.
Two hospital staff members, one a volunteer nurse and the other a worker, were also killed during the period of siege by Israeli army snipers who were deployed in the surrounding buildings, according to the Palestinian doctor.
He stated that during the siege period, the Israeli army asked males over the age of 16 to go out in their underwear only.
He said, “86 people left at the request of the army, and after several hours, everyone returned except for 12 people who were arrested by the occupation, including the hospital director, Ahmed Muhanna.”
Doctor Abu Safiya explained that among the detainees were 4 displaced persons, one injured person suffering from an amputation in his leg, one of the companions, and the rest were medical staff at the hospital.
In the latest developments, he pointed out that the hospital was bombed with a number of artillery shells yesterday, Tuesday, causing the injury of one of the workers and major destruction to a number of hospital rooms.