"We always say that we live in two wars in Gaza, one that kills with bombing, and one that is from rubbish, said Saada Abu Amr, 64, who was displaced from Beit Lahiya and is now living in Gaza City I have an asthma attack, and the inhaler is always with me. I put it under the pillow at night. I use it several times at night as the smell of the waste blocks my breathing airway."
"We use cleaning materials, but we can't keep spending all we have on cleaning; things never become clean in a tent near a waste area, especially with the lack of water, she told Al Jazeera. We get infected with gastroenteritis several times a month. I was almost dying once with gastroenteritis; they told me at the hospital it was because of poor sanitation, she added, describing how she had been forced to use toilets shared between dozens of people."
Mass displacement has forced families into makeshift shelters beside open rubbish dumps and crowded shared toilets, concentrating pollution and human waste. Limited water supply and inability to maintain hygiene make basic cleaning impossible and drive repeated outbreaks of gastroenteritis. Respiratory conditions worsen as toxic smells provoke asthma attacks, requiring inhalers used nightly. Overcrowding and shared sanitation expose dozens to contagious illnesses and strain health services. Chronic exposure to waste, sewage and poor sanitation undermines survival, dignity and recovery for displaced populations and increases morbidity amid ongoing conflict and infrastructure collapse.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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