Rats scurry between the tents at Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City. It’s dark and hard to see, but their quick movements tip over piles of trash and send the tent dwellers into turmoil.
Palestinians displaced by Israeli airstrikes sought refuge amid the rubble of the stadium and pitched tarpaulin tents near a landfill.
Those sheltering in the tents say large black rats run through them and sit on sleeping people, sometimes biting them and leading to the spread of disease.
“The rats are like a storm… I suffer a lot from the rats and from the life we
Subh said he was treated at the hospital for his rat bite wounds.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, despite a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October, two million Palestinians remain displaced in Gaza and many remain in tents around the enclave.
But with much of the Gaza Strip destroyed, aid groups say conditions have become optimal for rat infestation, leaving families struggling with diseases the rodents can spread.
In AprilThe United Nations reported that there have been more than 70,000 cases of “ectoparasitic” infestations – or incidents in which insects or pests burrow under human skin and cause itching or infection – since the start of the year.
The report also states that “more than 80 percent of displacement areas reported frequent visible rodents or pests, as well as skin infections such as scabies, lice and bed bugs.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says rats can spread hantaviruses, leptospirosis and rat-bite fever, among other viruses.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls access to the Gaza Strip, said it had allowed the import of about 82 tons of pest control materials and more than 1,000 mousetraps into the enclave in recent weeks.
This action was part of an effort by “all actors and international partners” to address the sanitation problem.
Kifah Subh, 38, says she tried securing the tarp that makes up her tent tightly to the ground and using traps and poison, but nothing helped. The mother of seven holds up an unused trap and says all the efforts she is making to combat the infestation are in vain.
Rat and parasite infestations are spreading in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip – where waste, sewage and contamination are fueling an outbreak that health officials expect to worsen through the summer.
“The fear and terror within us is enough… No one is able to fight these rats and rodents at night.”
Dr. Ayman Abu Rahma from the Gaza Ministry of Health said AlJazeera last month that Gaza was a “health-threatening environment.”
He says there has been an increase in emergency and primary care cases due to rat bites, particularly among children and the elderly.
In a statement to CBC News, Joel Onyeke, Save the Children’s director of operations in Gaza, said rats and insects were “increasingly visible” and were being seen on the streets, in makeshift roadside tents and in rubble.
“The accumulation of waste, limited disposal options and the collapse of the sewage system have all contributed to the worsening conditions.”
Onyeke also said the enclave was still grappling with large amounts of debris, “some of which may contain bodies that have not yet been recovered,” making the situation worse.
“Pesticides are the only immediate solution in Gaza to stop the infestation,” Onyeke said.
“Rat traps are unusable in Gaza due to the topography of the rubble and the environment.”
Basel Al-Dahnoun, another resident of the Yarmouk Stadium camp, said he woke up in the middle of the night last week soaked in blood from a wound in his leg caused by a rat bite.
“We fight for the United Nations and the Arab nations and for those who listen and send us poison to fight these rodents.”
The 48-year-old says the incident caused a rash to spread to his head and back and that his eight-year-old daughter was also bitten and her leg is now swollen.
Gaza’s sewage and sanitation systems have been severely damaged and humanitarian assistance is subject to Israeli restrictions.
Israel cites security concerns over humanitarian and infrastructural restrictions in the Gaza Strip, which it continues to maintain fatal attacksand said his actions were due to threats from Hamas.
More than 70,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli military attack on Gaza, according to the enclave’s health ministry. According to the ministry, there have been more than 800 deaths since October. The military action followed the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which, according to Israel, about 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage.
With garbage collection largely halted in Gaza, contaminated water and trash have accumulated near the tent cities where families sleep, cook and wash. This has given rodents and parasites a unique environment in which to spread, aid organizations say.
“This poses a serious risk to public health as rats can carry and transmit diseases, contaminate food sources and worsen already difficult living conditions,” Onyeke said.
The stadium is not the only place in Gaza where people are struggling with a rat infestation. A similar fate befalls the Abu Assi School in the Al-Shati refugee camp.
Maha Alian, 39, said rats had invaded the classroom where she and her family of eight live, causing her children to fear eating and sleeping.
“I was exposed to bombs and rubble and now I suffer greatly from rats,” she said. “We don’t know how we’re going to live our lives.”
