The Washington Post said that the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents of the crowded Gaza Strip, who live in tents, have become more difficult with the beginning of the rise in harsh summer temperatures, and thus the humanitarian situation has become more dangerous.
The newspaper explained, in a joint report by its correspondents Adila Suleiman, Hazem Baalousha, and Brian Beach, that life has become more difficult for these residents who are struggling to survive with little electricity, food, and clean water.
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF warned this week that treatment for malnutrition had stopped for nearly 3,000 children in southern Gaza, “putting them at risk of death as horrific violence, displacement, and lack of access to health care facilities continue,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. The United Nations said that “catastrophic hunger is affecting a large part of the Gaza population.”
Yesterday, Friday, residents of the northern Gaza Strip spoke of a severe food shortage amid the slowdown in the movement of aid to their area, according to the newspaper. Muhammad Mamdouh, who lives in a partially destroyed house in Beit Lahia with his family of 6, said, “Vegetables, fruits, and meat are not Available, and what is available, most residents cannot buy due to high prices, and I spend most of my day searching for food for my family.”
Unbearable heat
Rahma Hilal said, by phone, that the chronic water shortage, due to the widespread destruction of the infrastructure for pumping wells, contributes to worsening the misery. “Water reaches our area once a week, and we find it difficult to raise it to the tanks due to the power outage.”
Sherine Rajab, who lives in one of the tent cities in the south, said that the summer heat exacerbates the destruction, “and life in the tent is like hell. We do not know what to do, whether to stay inside or go out. The high temperatures are unbearable. Children suffer from skin diseases as a result of Excessive heat, sweat, and lack of water for bathing.”
Exacerbation of diseases
OCHA stated that water and sanitation facilities continue to be damaged by the fighting, and many people “collect water from unreliable sources in inappropriate containers” and lack hygiene supplies such as soap, contributing to high levels of diarrhoea, skin diseases and outbreaks. Hepatitis.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that a large percentage of Gaza’s population is facing famine-like conditions, at a time when relief agencies continue to call for more aid to be allowed into the devastated Strip, while Israel blames the United Nations for inefficiency, although agencies Relief says that the fighting in Gaza and difficulties in coordination with the Israeli authorities have made it difficult for them to reach the Kerem Shalom crossing.
