Gaza/Nawa Network -Filesteeniyat:
In her tent on the beach of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Jamal Al-Daya's mother tries to calm him. The child, who was crying intensely, suffers from severe itching and pain due to the blisters spreading across his body.
Jamal's mother, using a piece of thick cardboard, moves it over his body throughout the night to relieve his pain and cool his body covered in red spots due to the heat inside the tent. Jamal is 4 years old.
Jamal's family left Gaza City after the Israeli government declared war on the Gaza Strip on October 7th. They, like hundreds of thousands of other residents from Gaza City and the northern part of the strip, were displaced to the southern part of Wadi Gaza after the Israeli occupation army classified these areas as combat zones.
She told "Nawa": "My son cannot sleep. He wakes up many times and asks me to help him. I don't know what else I can do for him. All I can do is cool his body with some water and fan him with the cardboard."
Treatment for skin diseases is not available in Gaza's hospitals, especially after their widespread occurrence among children due to the living conditions in the tents, where there are insects, extreme heat, and constant contact with the sand on the tent floor.
The mother adds: "In addition to the lack of cleaning supplies and bathing soap in the markets, they are sold at exorbitant prices. A bottle of shampoo can cost 90 shekels (about 30 dollars)."
Umm Muhammad Al-Hassi also spoke about the water-filled blisters that had recently spread on her child’s body. She says: “Strange-shaped ulcers appear due to the intense heat inside the tent, and any contact with it leads to it bursting and water coming out, which is very painful for an 8-year-old child”.
Umm Mohammad searched extensively in pharmacies and even from street vendors who now sell medicines like canned goods and food, but she couldn't find suitable ointments. When she did find them, the prices were exorbitant.
She adds, "My mother-in-law advised me to sprinkle his body with corn starch at night, which is somewhat available. She also suggested applying pumpkin to his body, but a small piece of pumpkin weighing 100 grams costs 20 dollars in the market."
Umm Mohammad lives in a small tent made of large flour sacks, which she sewed together to create the walls and roof. She explains, "Because I couldn't find special tent fabric in the market, I decided to make the tent from empty flour sacks. They do not protect against the summer heat or the winter cold."
The 34-year-old woman accuses Israel of causing all these tragedies for the children and wishes for the war to end so she can treat her young child and alleviate his pain, which even adults cannot bear.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) stated that "children in the Gaza Strip face difficult conditions amidst skin and environmental diseases and unending hostilities." UNICEF added in a post on its account on the "X" platform that "children in Gaza face difficult conditions, including skin diseases, an unhealthy environment, and unending hostilities."
The incidence of skin infections is rising in the Gaza Strip due to the spread of insects, rodents, and mosquitoes, the contamination of groundwater by sewage, high temperatures, a shortage of clean drinking water, and the complete inability to provide treatments and medications. Additionally, the Israeli occupation prevents humanitarian, relief, and medical aid from entering the strip.
Suzan Al-Dali, a 5-year-old girl, suffers from severe rashes and a widespread appearance of strange blisters on her body, which prevent her from sleeping inside her family's tent in central Gaza. Her mother, Samah, resorts to using primitive ventilation methods, such as waving a plastic tray in front of her body constantly.
She says: "I took my daughter to the field clinic, and they gave me some ointments, but she did not feel any improvement, and I was not able to get any better treatment because the pharmacies are almost empty, and what is available is very expensive."
Mrs. Al-Dali's husband remains trapped in northern Gaza and has not joined her in Deir Al-Balah, where she now lives in a tent. She added: "The reason for my daughter's condition is the shortage of cleaning materials inside the Gaza Strip, and of course the heat of the tents, and the unusual insects that we encounter for the first time in the sand, in addition to mosquitoes and flies”.
About one and a half million displaced people from northern and southern Gaza Strip are living in dire conditions in temporary camps made of nylon and fabric in the western parts of Khan Younis and the central governorate. Inside these displacement tents, temperatures often exceed 50 degrees Celsius, exacerbated by the unprecedented shortage of cleaning supplies and potable water.
Khalil Al-Daqran, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, confirmed the widespread prevalence of skin diseases among the displaced, especially children, due to extreme heat, lack of water, inadequate cleaning supplies, and severe overcrowding in the displacement camps and shelters.
He stated, "The spread of sewage in the streets and among the displacement tents due to the destruction of infrastructure by the occupation has led to an increase in these diseases." He noted that the blockade by the occupying forces, which prevents the delivery of cleaning supplies to Gaza, has contributed to the spread of skin diseases, and the shortage of clean water for washing and drinking has further aggravated these conditions.
