Humanitarian conditions in Gaza have deteriorated to the point where environmental collapse and public health emergencies are inseparable from Israel’s genocidal war on the Strip.
The spread of rats, rodents, and parasites across the displacement camps in the Gaza Strip is the predictable outcome of a situation where infrastructure has been systematically destroyed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), waste management has ceased to function, and millions of people are confined to overcrowded, unsanitary spaces with limited access to clean water.
“My children have been bitten. One of my sons was even bitten on the nose,” Mohamed Al-Raqab, a Palestinian man living in a tent near the southern city of Khan Yunis in Gaza, told the AFP news agency.
“I am unable to sleep through the night because I must constantly watch over the children.”
Despite a ceasefire agreement reached last year, the IOF are severely restricting the entry of humanitarian aid, equipment, and basic supplies to Gaza. Since October 2023, it has actively destroyed over 90 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure.
Gaza’s tent encampments, now housing the majority of the population, have become overrun with rats and parasites. Families report rodents biting children in their sleep, gnawing through food supplies, and spreading diseases such as leptospirosis and rat-bite fever as spring temperatures rise.
Many Palestinian families are now too afraid to sleep at night, worried that their children will be bitten by rats.
Samah Al-Daabla woke up to the screams of her four-year-old daughter Mayaseen. When her husband turned on a torch, they saw a furry creature, a weasel, run away from near their child’s makeshift bed.
“I looked at my daughter’s hand, and it was all bloody. Everything was bloody,” she told the BBC. Mayaseen was given a tetanus injection at a Gaza City hospital but suffered from days of fever and vomiting.
Hospitals across the Strip are documenting a steady stream of such cases, with particular vulnerability among children and the elderly, and say that anxiety about the rats is sending shockwaves across communities.
Gaza medical officials say that new patients present with rodent-related injuries or infections on a daily basis.
The scale of the infestation is closely tied to the environmental collapse caused by the IOF’s large-scale destruction of the Strip, and the Israeli regime’s tight blockade of aid and commercial goods entering Gaza.
This has left families unable to access many essential items, including pesticides to control infestations. On the few occasions when these items are available on the market, the prices are unaffordable. As a result, families are resorting to often ineffective methods, including trying to catch the animals using sticks or basic adhesive traps.
Gaza’s waste-collection systems have largely ceased functioning, leaving rubbish to accumulate in and around densely packed displacement sites. Raw sewage, stagnant water, and food waste create ideal breeding conditions not only for rodents but also for insects and ectoparasites.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described Gaza as a “collapsed living environment,” warning that such conditions make outbreaks of infectious disease not only likely but inevitable.
With the war on Iran now eclipsing the Israeli genocide in Gaza, Western and Arab pledges for the enclave’s reconstruction have faded, leaving two million Palestinians trapped in unlivable and degrading conditions amidst widespread rodent infestations.
Data from the United Nations and the WHO indicate that by early this year, more than 70,000 cases of ectoparasitic infestations such as lice, scabies, and bedbugs had been recorded, alongside at least 17,000 cases linked directly to rodent exposure.
Over 80 per cent of displacement sites in Gaza report the constant presence of pests.
Gaza’s few remaining clinics and hospitals – more than 1,800 health facilities were partially or completely destroyed during the Israeli war on Gaza – are treating growing numbers of patients for bites, infections, and diseases linked directly to these infestations.
According to a recent report by the European Union and the UN, more than $71 billion will be needed over the next 10 years for recovery and reconstruction in Gaza.
Israel’s targeted destruction of the sanitation infrastructure in Gaza is central to this crisis.
Even before the genocide, Gaza’s water and sewage systems were under strain as a result of the actions of the Israeli occupation. Since 2023, however, large portions of this infrastructure have been destroyed or rendered inoperable. Most sewage pumping stations have ceased functioning, leading to the overflow of untreated waste into streets and living areas.
Residents are often forced to rely on contaminated water sources, further accelerating the spread of disease. Public health experts have repeatedly warned that such conditions are ripe for outbreaks ranging from diarrheal disease to cholera.
Large swathes of Gaza remain buried under debris from IOF airstrikes and demolitions, with humanitarian agencies noting that tens of thousands of bodies are still believed to be trapped beneath collapsed buildings. This has both immediate and long-term public health implications.
Decomposing remains can contaminate groundwater and contribute to the proliferation of insects and rodents. Residents describe fears that the rats have become more aggressive, drawn to areas where bodies remain under the rubble. In this environment, rats have proliferated quickly, moving freely between shelters, food-storage areas, and sleeping quarters.
The inability to address these conditions is linked to Israel’s declared policy of making Gaza unlivable for its population.
Pest-control supplies, disinfectants, fuel for waste management, and the equipment needed to restore water systems are either limited or delayed. At the same time, humanitarian agencies say that Israeli constraints severely limit their ability to prevent a full-scale public health disaster.
Even when limited quantities of pest-control materials are allowed into Gaza, they are insufficient relative to the scale of the need.
Beyond the immediate health risks, the psychological toll is profound. Children are growing up in environments where exposure to disease, contaminated water, and unsanitary conditions is constant.
Overcrowding exacerbates every dimension of the crisis, and limited access to toilets, shared water points, and insufficient shelter all contribute to the rapid spread of illness.
“I am regularly seeing rats, rubbish, and sewage all around me. I fear for my daughter’s health living in these conditions,” Shorouk, a 31-year-old Palestinian mother, told the charity Save the Children.
“It makes my skin crawl and is no way to live a dignified life. As the weather gets warmer, we fear this issue will only become worse and more terrifying and make our home a breeding ground for rats, pests, and disease,” she said.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 7 May, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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