The Gaza Strip is facing an unprecedented health and environmental catastrophe as the genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation enters its tenth month. Living conditions inside overcrowded shelters continue to deteriorate amid the absence of clean water, a severe shortage of hygiene supplies, and the near-total collapse of the healthcare system.
In this context, UNRWA has warned of grave health consequences threatening the besieged population, especially children, who are no longer able to bathe regularly due to the lack of soap and water fit for human use. This has created fertile ground for the spread of skin, respiratory, and intestinal diseases, particularly during the intense summer heat and overcrowded shelter conditions.
This comes at a time when humanitarian aid and medical supplies are being denied entry, following the closure of all crossings into Gaza by the Israeli occupation since March.
The fuel crisis further compounds the situation, as it threatens to shut down what remains of hospitals and health centres. This comes amid the deliberate and systematic targeting of health infrastructure through bombardment and starvation, amounting to a fully-fledged policy of extermination.
Shelters, which were supposed to offer a minimum level of protection, have become uninhabitable spaces. Thousands of families are living in inhumane conditions, without proper ventilation, electricity, or drinking water. As waste piles up, infections have begun to spread, signalling a large-scale health disaster in the making.
Since 7 October 2023, the occupation has waged a war of extermination against Gaza’s population, resulting in the killing and wounding of over 195,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and leaving over 10,000 missing under the rubble or in unknown circumstances. Hundreds of thousands remain displaced within the Strip, amid a rapidly worsening famine that has claimed the lives of numerous civilians, including dozens of children, due to hunger or lack of medical care.
What is unfolding in Gaza is not only a violation of international humanitarian law; it is a flagrant challenge to all moral and human rights principles that powerful nations claim to uphold. The total blockade, deliberate starvation, and targeting of civilians and medical facilities are all clear indicators of genocidal intent, an intent that no longer requires proof, but demands an urgent humanitarian stance to stop it and bring it to an end.
