Health Crisis in Gaza: A Mother’s Fight Against Hepatitis A

Health Crisis in Gaza: A Mother’s Struggle

Sally Thabet, a 40-year-old mother, has made every effort to shield her three daughters from illness after they fled their home in Gaza City, seeking refuge in a repurposed minimart in the town of Deir al Balah. However, despite her best attempts, including extensive use of hand sanitizer, the unsanitary conditions they now endure have taken a toll on her family’s health.

Living in cramped quarters, sharing a toilet with 20 others, and having to wash dishes with contaminated seawater, the risks of illness are ever-present. Tragically, one by one, her daughters began to fall ill with what doctors have diagnosed as hepatitis A—a viral liver infection that is primarily transmitted through person-to-person contact or contaminated food and water. This illness can spread rapidly, particularly in such unhygienic environments.

“Amoon was the first to be diagnosed two months ago,” Sally recounted last week, her voice filled with worry. The 10-year-old girl exhibited alarming symptoms: she developed severe stomach pains, lost her appetite, began vomiting, and appeared increasingly pale. “I couldn’t even notice how jaundiced she was because it is so dark inside the store we are living in,” she added with a heavy heart. Soon after, her other two daughters, Kenzy, 15, and Kandi, 11, began to show signs of illness as well.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 100,000 individuals in Gaza have experienced acute jaundice syndrome, or are suspected to have hepatitis A, since the onset of the conflict between Hamas and Israel on October 7. This alarming statistic highlights just one of the many health crises unfolding in Gaza, where the majority of the territory’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced from their homes, forced to live in squalid and overcrowded camps or makeshift shelters.

As basic necessities such as clean water, sewage treatment, waste disposal, soap, and fuel for cooking become increasingly scarce, the health situation continues to deteriorate. The WHO has also reported nearly one million cases of acute respiratory infections, half a million cases of diarrhea, and 100,000 cases of lice and scabies throughout the region. On Friday, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the agency’s director-general, revealed that even polio—a disease that has been eradicated in much of the world—has been detected in Gaza. A variant of the poliovirus was found in six samples of water or wastewater, indicating that some individuals may be infected, although no symptomatic cases have yet been reported.