If we sleep, they bite the children. There is no life.
In the displacement camps of Gaza, where over a million people shelter in tents amid the ruins of war, a quieter catastrophe has taken hold — one carried on four legs through the dark. Rats, weasels, and disease-bearing pests now infest the overwhelming majority of sites where displaced families live, biting children in the night and spreading illness through collapsed sanitation systems. This is what prolonged displacement looks like when infrastructure is destroyed and reconstruction remains blocked: suffering that compounds itself, season by season, in ways that no single airstrike announces but that history will nonetheless record.
- A four-year-old wakes screaming in the night, her hand bloodied by a weasel — and her story is not exceptional but representative of 1.45 million displaced Gazans living alongside rats, weasels, and disease-carrying pests.
- Raw sewage, mountains of uncollected rubbish, and destroyed sanitation pipes have turned Gaza's tent camps into breeding grounds, with 80 percent of displacement sites now showing visible rodent or pest presence.
- The WHO has recorded over 111,500 cases of parasite-related disease this year alone, while parents forgo sleep to stand guard over their children and a diabetic grandmother loses parts of her toes to rodent bites.
- Aid organizations are calling for heavy equipment, pesticides, and infrastructure materials, but the supplies required to address the crisis remain restricted at Israeli-controlled crossings on security grounds.
- With summer approaching and pest populations expected to surge, the window for intervention is narrowing — and the people living in these camps have no shelter to retreat to, no functioning systems to rely on, and no reconstruction in sight.
In a tent in Gaza City, a four-year-old named Mayaseen woke screaming at two in the morning. A weasel had bitten her hand. She spent days feverish and vomiting before recovering — but her case is far from isolated. Across Gaza, a crisis measured not in airstrikes but in rats and disease is quietly overwhelming the displaced population.
A recent UN survey found rodents or pests visibly present in 80 percent of displacement sites, affecting roughly 1.45 million people. The animals spread illness through bites, scratches, urine, and fleas — pathways to skin infections, respiratory disease, and blood poisoning. The WHO has documented over 111,500 cases of parasite-related disease this year, with more than four-fifths of Gaza households reporting skin infections.
The conditions are not accidental. More than six months after a ceasefire took effect, no reconstruction has begun. Families remain in tents beside raw sewage and massive rubbish piles. Rizq Abu Laila, sheltering near a garbage dump with four children — one with cancer — told the BBC: 'We cannot sleep. If we sleep, they bite the children.' Parents now keep watch through the night. One diabetic grandmother lost parts of her toes to rodent bites. A father in Khan Younis described nights tormented by fleas, mosquitoes, weasels, and rats passing through his tent. 'There is no life,' he said.
The root cause is the collapse of sanitation infrastructure — destroyed pipes, broken treatment facilities, scarce waste equipment. Unicef is calling for a territory-wide waste management campaign, but the heavy equipment and materials required remain restricted at Israeli-controlled crossings, which Israel says is necessary on security grounds. Israel's Cogat body says it has facilitated some equipment entry and recently allowed nearly 1,000 rat traps and ten tons of pesticides into Gaza, but the structural repairs needed to address the crisis have not been permitted.
As summer arrives and pest populations grow, aid workers and residents brace for conditions to worsen. The nightly battles with rodents will continue — and the people fighting them have nowhere else to go.
In the darkness of a tent in Gaza City, a four-year-old girl named Mayaseen woke screaming at two in the morning. Her mother, Samah al-Daabla, heard the sound and watched her husband grab a torch. A weasel bolted from the tent. When they looked at their daughter's hand, it was covered in blood.
Mayaseen received a tetanus shot at a Gaza City hospital but spent days running fever and vomiting before recovering in her family's tent. Her case is not unusual. Across the Gaza Strip, where war has left the territory in ruins, a different kind of crisis is now unfolding—one measured not in airstrikes but in the spread of rats, weasels, and other pests that bite children in the night, attack the elderly, and carry diseases through overcrowded displacement camps.
A recent UN survey found rodents or other pests visibly present in 80 percent of the sites where displaced families now live. That encompasses roughly 1.45 million people. The animals transmit disease through bites, scratches, urine, droppings, and fleas—pathways to respiratory infections, skin diseases, blood infections, and food poisoning. The World Health Organization has documented over 111,500 cases this year of disease or infestation caused by external parasites, with more than four-fifths of Gaza households reporting skin infections and rashes.
The conditions that have created this crisis are not accidental. More than six months after a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States took effect, no reconstruction has begun. The 200,000 temporary caravans that Palestinian officials say are needed have not arrived. Families remain in tents. Raw sewage runs through many of the campsites. Rubbish accumulates in massive piles next to where people sleep. As spring weather arrives, the rodents thrive. Rizq Abu Laila lives with his four young children, one of whom has cancer, next to a garbage dump in Gaza City. "We cannot sleep," he told the BBC. "If we sleep, they bite the children. There are so many weasels and rats—an abnormal number. The rats have torn our clothes and eaten our flour." He called on international institutions for help.
Parents now keep vigil through the night to protect their children. One grandmother with diabetes-related nerve damage lost parts of her toes to rodent bites. Hassan Al-Faqaawi, a father of six in Khan Younis, described spending nights scratching from fleas on one side and mosquitoes on the other, with weasels and rats passing through. "I don't see any lasting peace at all in Gaza," he said. "Life is much harder than it was before. There is no life."
The root cause lies in the collapse of sanitation infrastructure. Pipes have been destroyed. Treatment facilities have been destroyed. Waste removal equipment is scarce or broken. The UN children's agency, Unicef, says what is needed is a large-scale campaign to manage waste and rubble across the entire territory. Humanitarian workers are requesting heavy equipment and spare parts, as well as access to Gaza's major landfill sites, which are now under full Israeli military control in the eastern part of the strip.
Israel's defense body, Cogat, which controls Gaza's crossings, says it is working with international organizations to address sanitation needs. In a statement to the BBC, Cogat said it has coordinated waste removal, facilitated equipment entry for infrastructure repairs, and recently allowed nearly 1,000 rat traps and almost 10 tons of pesticides into Gaza. Some pest sprays have already been deployed in tent camps. But the core problem remains: replacing damaged facilities requires Israel to allow entry of vital supplies—chemicals, pipes, and other materials—that it currently restricts on security grounds, citing concern that Hamas could use them to build weapons.
As summer approaches, aid workers and residents alike brace for what comes next. Warmer weather will bring more pests. The population living in these conditions will remain displaced, without permanent shelter, without functioning sanitation systems, without the large-scale intervention that experts say is necessary. The nightly battles with rodents will continue.
Citações Notáveis
When my husband turned on the torch, the weasel ran away. I looked at my daughter's hand, and it was all blood.— Samah al-Daabla, mother of four-year-old Mayaseen
We cannot sleep. If we sleep, they bite the children. There are so many weasels and rats—an abnormal number.— Rizq Abu Laila, Gaza City resident
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why is this happening now, in 2026, months after a ceasefire?
The ceasefire stopped the active fighting, but it didn't restart the systems that keep a place livable. The sewage pipes are still broken. The garbage is still piling up. People are still in tents instead of homes.
So it's not that pests suddenly appeared—it's that the conditions created them?
Exactly. Raw sewage, rubbish heaps, overcrowding, no waste management. You've built a perfect breeding ground. The pests were always going to come.
The article mentions Israel restricts certain supplies. Why would chemicals and pipes be security concerns?
Israel says they could be diverted to weapons manufacturing. Whether that's the real constraint or a convenient one, the effect is the same: the infrastructure stays broken, and the people stay exposed.
What would actually fix this?
Large-scale waste removal campaigns, rebuilt sanitation facilities, access to landfill sites, and the supplies needed to do the work. But that requires coordination and resources that haven't materialized in six months.
And summer is coming?
Yes. Warmer weather means more rodents, more insects, more disease. The people living there know it's about to get worse.