Skin infections, hepatitis spread in Gaza due to contaminated water
Children in Gaza coming down with ailments associated with drinking or bathing in contaminated water. Common issues include hepatitis and skin infections.
The blistering rash on 7-month-old Sobhia’s skin is the result of bacteria from polluted water, doctors told her mother.
The infant, who was born a few months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, is one of many young children in Gaza coming down with ailments associated with drinking or bathing in contaminated water, according to families, doctors and humanitarian groups in the area. Common issues include hepatitis and skin infections.
Samar Hamoda, Sobhia’s mother, said in an interview last month that the family had to flee northern Gaza and was staying in an evacuation zone in the southern city of Khan Younis. (The Israeli military ordered evacuations in eastern Khan Younis on Friday.)
“We came here to even worse conditions,” Hamoda said. “No clean place to stay in, and we did not find potable water so we could shower our children.”
Sobhia was prescribed medicine, she added, but the family could not find a hospital or clinic that would give it for free and she couldn’t afford the price.
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