Spread of fleas worsens suffering among displaced people, threatens harsh summer

Displaced people say that flea bites deprive them of sleep at night, at a time when they lack pesticides and means of protection. Doha Al Sarsawi, 25, displaced from Gaza City, explains that she is unable to sleep because of continuous itching, while her two-year-old child does not stop crying throughout the night, confirming that individual attempts to use medicines or pesticides have not been effective with the widespread presence of insects inside the camp.

In the same context, Saeed Hamad, 60, displaced from Rafah, describes the situation as unbearable, pointing to his youngest daughter suffering from skin rashes and blisters all over her body, amid the absence of medicines and control materials, which increases anxiety with the arrival of the month of Ramadan.

Displaced people point out that fleas are active at night and hide during the day in sand and blankets, which makes combating them difficult. Mahmoud Al Aqad, 42, says that he wakes up at night to find blood stains on his clothes as a result of bites, explaining that before Ramadan he resorted to spraying his tent and the sand with an agricultural pesticide, which led to the temporary disappearance of insects before they returned after days, confirming that the high prices of pesticides prevent most displaced people from repeating the experience.

For his part, Samer Al Astal, 47, expressed his hope of being able to return to his home east of Khan Yunis to escape the worsening crisis inside the camp, but he pointed to being subjected to gunfire during his attempt to reach areas that the Israeli occupation army declares safe, in addition to the hovering of drones that fire toward citizens. He mentioned that two of his relatives were injured by gunfire while moving north of the city, where they are receiving treatment at Nasser Hospital.

With the increase in complaints, displaced people confirm that individual solutions are no longer effective, and that eliminating fleas requires collective and comprehensive spraying campaigns for all camps.

Sayed Ashour says that the suffering doubles in Ramadan, explaining that fasting during the day is met with deprivation of sleep at night because of severe itching, adding that he was forced to borrow money to buy an insecticide, but the fleas quickly returned due to their spread throughout the camp.

The displaced people appealed to humanitarian institutions and competent authorities for urgent intervention by implementing wide spraying campaigns and providing safe pesticides and sterilization materials, to limit the spread of fleas that have caused cases of allergies and skin inflammations, and have exacerbated the suffering of residents under extremely harsh humanitarian conditions.