Palestinians in Gaza struggle with heat, garbage, insect swarms
As garbage piles up and the heat rises in the besieged Gaza Strip, flies and mosquitoes proliferate in crowded Rafah city and life becomes even more grim for displaced people living in tents, according to an AFP report.
Temperatures have already topped 30 degrees Celsius, turning makeshift shelters made from plastic tarps and sheets into sweltering ovens. UNRWA said it has already received reports that at least two children have died due to rising temperatures.
The World Health Organization warned in January of a leap in infectious diseases such as hepatitis A, blamed on unsanitary conditions in camps. “Waste continues piling up and running water is scarce” in Gaza, warned UNRWA in a post on X last week. “As the weather gets warmer, the risk of disease spreading increases.”
Rafah hosts about 1.5 million displaced, according to the UN, more than half of the Gaza Strip’s population, which has been besieged and bombarded by Israel for nearly seven months.
On the streets, garbage accumulates as large rubbish containers overflow, after basic services broke down long ago amid Gaza’s worst ever war.
The war has also destroyed “waste collection vehicles, facilities and medical waste treatment centres”, leaving “municipalities scrambling to cope with the escalating crisis”, a UN report said late last month.
China remembers the mass graves, buried under the outrage over the student protests
‘Outrage to the moral conscience of humanity’
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian has said that China is “deeply shocked and strongly condemns the perpetrators of this atrocity”, referring to the discovery of mass graves at al-Shifa Hospital.
At a news briefing in Beijing, he said: “Vast swaths of Gaza are now left in rubble and over a million civilians are struggling in despair on the brink of death. The fact that this is even happening in the 21st century is an outrage to the moral conscience of humanity, and tramples on the most fundamental aspect of international justice.”
The biggest imperative is to put in place a ceasefire as soon as possible, he added. “This is the number one overriding priority in Gaza.”
40-day ceasefire offered to Hamas in Gaza: UK’s Cameron
Speaking in Riyadh, UK foreign secretary Cameron says there is a “generous” offer of a sustained 40-day ceasefire in Gaza, in exchange for the release of captives.
“The current proposal before Hamas includes the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners,” he says. “I hope Hamas accepts the proposal in front of them,” he adds, saying that the war won’t end until all the captives are released.
Cameron also says that the Hamas leadership and those responsible for the October 7 attack need to leave Gaza in order “to have a political horizon for a two-state solution”.
Hamas has repeatedly said that it wants a permanent end to the fighting, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.
Hamas’s response to deal expected in coming ’24 hours or so’
The Israelis have a delegation ready to go to Cairo tomorrow, but that depends on the response from Hamas to Israel’s ceasefire proposal.
It’s understood that the Israelis are asking for fewer than 40 of the 130 or so captives being held by Hamas, and in return for that, they’ll release Palestinian prisoners, and they’ll move to a second phase of a truce, which will offer this period of “sustained calm”.
The wording is very important there because we know that Hamas has been insisting that throughout previous talks, they get a complete end to hostilities and the removal of Israeli forces from Gaza so that Palestinians can return to their homes, particularly in the north.
So the question is whether this offer of a period of “sustained calm” will be enough for Hamas, considering they’ve been asking for this permanent ceasefire. We expect to hear what Hamas have to say in the coming 24 hours or so.
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