Gaza faces epidemic risk as heat waves worsen conditions in displacement camps

GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Gaza Civil Defense Agency warned Thursday of the spread of epidemics and diseases in displacement camps in the southern part of the enclave as heat waves intensified.

"The suffering of displaced people in the displacement camps in the southern governorates of Gaza seems to be increasing with the intensification of heat waves,'' the agency said in a statement.

It added that this situation "forewarns of the widening spread of epidemics and diseases among them, especially among children and pregnant women."

The statement called on the World Health Organization (WHO) ''to urgently take actions to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and find alternative places to tents amid severe heat waves in the coming days."

Gaza is experiencing a severe heat wave, with temperatures reaching around 37C (98.6F) during daylight hours on Thursday.

Since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip, Israel has forcibly displaced residents of the enclave southward, claiming it to be a "safe zone."

But Israeli shelling, destruction and atrocities have affected all areas, leading to the congestion of around 1.3 million of the Strip's 2.3 million people in Rafah city alone, according to government officials in Gaza.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 34,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 77,300 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul