Teenagers' death highlights infectious disease casualties of genocide

 Overcrowded and unsanitary conditions for the 1.7 million people in Gaza who have been forcibly displaced have led to a spike in infectious diseases. Here a shelter in Nuseirat on 14 May. 

Omar Ashtawy APA images

Death by bombing is not the only thing that destroys the lives of Palestinians in Gaza.

The spread of infectious diseases, high temperatures, water and air pollution, as well as hunger, and displacement, with 1.7 million people forced into overcrowded, unsanitary shelters, have also taken a severe toll.

All of these conditions hit the young, old and those suffering other health conditions disproportionately.

In early January, Ahmed al-Weidy, a lively 17-year-old, contracted hepatitis and “suffered from general weakness, loss of appetite, yellow eye color, and diarrhea,” his mother, Samia, said.

“Since birth, he had suffered from an inability to absorb enough oxygen and couldn’t move his neck well. His fingers were cramped, and he couldn’t move them as well. He underwent more than one physical therapy session, but to no avail, and his condition did not improve.”

Adding to Ahmed’s physical problems came those tied to trying to avoid Israeli bombardments, being surrounded by devastation and destruction and having trouble sleeping at night.

Last October, Ahmed and his family, like hundreds of thousands of others, were displaced from Gaza City and forced to move to a shelter in a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees, UNRWA, center in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Overcrowded, suffering from the total absence of any functioning municipal services, and devoid of the most basic necessities of life, polluted water and waste accumulate near such shelters in which hundreds share toilets.

Infectious and skin diseases spread rampantly in such conditions.

Hospital treatment

Ruba Hijeh, a doctor the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, said the destruction of vital infrastructure and the impossibility of providing municipal services have played a key role in the spread of diseases.

“Solid waste is collected in random dumps next to the tents of displaced people, and this waste and wastewater accumulation cause the spread of harmful insects that transmit diseases.”

The doctor said the young are particularly vulnerable and that there had been a large number of children arriving at the hospital with hepatitis A, gastroenteritis, and diarrhea.

The UN has reported that children under 5 make up a disproportionate number of those affected by the spread of infectious diseases, affecting anywhere between a quarter and one-third of reported cases.

Teenager’s death highlights infectious disease casualties of genocide | The Electronic Intifada