"The smell hits you before you even see the tents. In the al-Taawun camp, wedged between Yarmouk Stadium and al-Sahaba Street in central Gaza City, the line between human habitation and human waste has been erased. Forced to flee their homes by Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, 765 families have set up makeshift shelters directly on top of and adjacent to an enormous solid waste dump."
"The rats eat the tents from underneath, al-Jadi told Al Jazeera. They walk on our faces while we sleep. My daughter is 18 months old. A rat ran right over her face. Every day, she has gastroenteritis, vomiting, diarrhoea or malnutrition. Al-Jadi's plea is not for a luxury accommodation, just a mere 40 to 50 metres (130ft to 164ft) of clean space to live in, he said. We want to live like human beings."
"The sanitary crisis has unleashed a plague of skin infections among the 4,000 residents of the camp. With no running water or sewage system, scabies has spread like wildfire. Fares Jamal Sobh, a six-month-old infant, spends his nights crying. His mother points to the red, angry rashes covering his small body. He doesn't sleep at night because of the itching, she said. We wake up to find cockroaches and mosquitoes on him. We bring medicine, but it's useless because we are living on trash."
More than 4,000 Palestinians from 765 families are sheltering in al-Taawun camp on and beside an enormous solid waste dump in central Gaza City. The camp sits between Yarmouk Stadium and al-Sahaba Street. Residents have no running water or sewage, and have been displaced repeatedly by the war. Rat, cockroach and mosquito infestations are rampant, and unexploded ordnance and garbage surround the tents. Scabies and other skin infections are widespread, and infants suffer gastroenteritis, vomiting, diarrhoea and malnutrition. Families lack safe clean space; one father requested only 40 to 50 metres of clean living area. Living conditions cause severe physical and psychological harm.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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