Contagious skin illnesses explode across Gaza

Shafaq News- Gaza

Contagious skin diseases are spreading rapidly across the Gaza Strip, with health officials reporting about 9,300 infections in just two weeks, as overcrowded shelters, contaminated water, and medicine shortages deepen the humanitarian crisis.

In a press briefing on Saturday, Mohammed Abu Afash, Director of Medical Relief in northern Gaza, stated that the cases —ranging from chickenpox and scabies to lice infestations— were identified through 130 health centers across the territory.

Noting that the shortage of treatments is pushing an already strained health system closer to collapse, he underscored that drugs for chronic illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension, have become nearly impossible to obtain, even in private pharmacies.

“Patients with kidney failure are facing increasing difficulties as dialysis units struggle with shortages of essential fluids and materials needed to keep treatments running,” Abu Afash added, warning that rising malnutrition, driven by shrinking humanitarian aid deliveries, is weakening immunity and leaving children and pregnant women especially vulnerable to infection.

Earlier this year, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) recorded a sharp rise in skin infections linked to infestations of rats, lice, fleas, and mites. Its teams are treating around 40% of cases, which number in the thousands, finding that such conditions would typically be manageable with basic medicines that remain largely unavailable.

Our latest on the situation in 📍#Gaza and the #WestBank, including East Jerusalem:🔹 UNRWA continues to deliver life-saving services across Gaza, with over 80,000 medical consultations provided in one week through health centres, temporary facilities and mobile medical teams.… pic.twitter.com/z0Re14uSDq

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 11, 2026

Despite a ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025, conditions for Gaza’s roughly 2.4 million residents, including 1.4 million displaced people, continue to deteriorate amid ongoing restrictions on the entry of food, relief supplies, medical aid, and shelter materials.

The organization further found that more than 80% of displacement sites are affected by skin diseases, including scabies, lice, and bedbugs, underscoring the urgent need to allow medical supplies and laboratory equipment into Gaza while ensuring protection for healthcare workers and unrestricted humanitarian access.

Read more: Rodents, disease spread through Gaza displacement camps