UN warns of an imminent waterborne disease outbreak in Gaza

Gaza is facing ‘imminent’ outbreaks of water borne diseases, the head of an aid group in the besieged enclave has warned.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Palestine (UNWRA), said an increase of skin diseases are also impacting the people of Gaza – which he said was unsurprising considering the unsanitary conditions in the enclave.

He described the situation for most as ‘desperate’ as ‘people are lacking everything’ as Gaza has only received 10% of its required food supplies each day in shipments from Egypt.

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The water system shutdown has left most of the Palestinian population drinking contaminated water.

Dehydration and malnutrition are also growing, according to the UN’s World Food Programme.

Dr Manal Mohammed is a lecturer in infectious diseases and genomics at the University of Westminster.

He explained: ‘The very poor sanitation services across Gaza during the war and the consumption of sewage contaminated water are raising fears of the spread of waterborne infectious diseases and can cause outbreaks.

‘There are several pathogens that can be transmitted through consumption of contaminated water such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid, polio, hepatitis A virus which can cause serious illness and even death.

‘Some bacterial strains that are resistant to antibiotics such as Salmonella and E. coli can also be transmitted through contaminated water.

‘If people are not killed by rocket attacks, they might die of consuming contaminated water.’

The UN was forced to stop deliveries of food and other necessities to Gaza late last week, and warned of the growing risk of widespread starvation after internet and phone services collapsed due to lack of fuel.

Mr Lazzarini said he was in ‘full admiration’ of the UN staff who have endured terrifying experiences while working with the people living in Gaza.

He reassured the press that ‘UNRWA will stay. UNRWA has stayed. And we will scale up our footprint, scale up our presence, scale up our activities.’

Weeks of devastating Israel airstrikes in Gaza, followed by a ground invasion, have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

It does not differentiate between civilians and militants, though some two-thirds of the dead have been identified as women and minors.

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