Families in the Gaza Strip are living in rat-infested camps, with children bitten at night as disease spreads, prompting warnings from aid agencies of a worsening public health crisis
Families living in tent camps across the Gaza Strip are being forced to battle swarms of rats and pests, with terrified parents saying their children are being attacked in the night.
In scenes described as “unbearable”, displaced families say their makeshift homes have become overrun by rodents thriving in piles of rubbish and raw sewage.
For Samah al-Daabla, the horror became real when her four-year-old daughter was bitten as she slept. She said: “We woke up to the sound of her screaming at 2am. When my husband turned on the torch, the weasel ran away. I looked at my daughter’s hand, and it was all blood. Everything was bloody.”
Her daughter, Mayaseen, was rushed for treatment and given a tetanus injection, but suffered days of fever and vomiting before recovering back in the family’s tent.
Aid agencies warn the crisis is spiralling, with camps now described as breeding grounds for disease, the BBC reports. A recent survey cited by UN agencies found rodents or pests present in 80% of displacement sites, affecting around 1.45 million people.
Experts say the collapse of infrastructure has created the perfect conditions for infestations, with waste piling up and sewage flowing through overcrowded camps.
Dr Reinhilde Van De Weert of the World Health Organization (WHO) said the outbreak was “unfortunately, the predictable consequence of a collapsed living environment”.
Parents say sleep is almost impossible as they try to protect their children. Rizq Abu Laila added: “We cannot sleep! If we sleep, they bite the children and disturb us. There are so many weasels and rats – an abnormal number.
“They go in the rubbish and fight because there are so many of them. I swear we can’t endure it. The rats have torn our clothes and eaten our flour. There are mosquitoes and foul smells. We call on international institutions to help us.”
With much of Gaza’s infrastructure destroyed during the ongoing conflict, there has been little reconstruction, leaving families exposed in tents beside mountains of debris.
Humanitarian groups warn of a growing public health emergency, with rodents capable of spreading serious diseases through bites, droppings and fleas. The WHO has reported more than 111,500 cases of disease linked to infestations this year alone. Aid workers say urgent action is needed to clear waste and restore sanitation systems.
“What is needed is a very large-scale campaign to be able to deal with the waste and rubble problems across Gaza,” said Ettie Higgins of UNICEF.
As temperatures rise, fears are growing that the crisis will worsen, leaving already vulnerable families facing an even greater threat.
“I am now in a house with just the outside walls standing,” said Hassan Al-Faqaawi. “We spend the whole night scratching from fleas on one side and mosquitoes on the other. There are weasels passing by or rats. We need something to deal with it. There is no life.”
