Rats and parasites are spreading rapidly through makeshift tent camps across Gaza, biting sleeping children, damaging belongings, and contributing to rising disease levels among displaced Palestinians.
The outbreak is affecting communities where more than 2 million people have been displaced, many of whom are now living in damaged homes or improvised tents set up on roadsides, open ground, or the ruins of destroyed buildings.
A Palestinian man discards garbage near piles of waste beside tents for displaced Palestinians, amid the spread of rodents, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, April 27, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer
In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, 20-year-old Amani Abu Selmi told Reuters that rodents destroyed parts of her wedding trousseau just days before her planned wedding, chewing through her traditional burgundy embroidered dress and other belongings.
“All my happiness was gone, it turned to sadness, turned to heartbreak – that my things are gone, my wedding trousseau is gone,” she said.
Elsewhere, residents report direct attacks by rodents during sleep. Khalil Al-Mashharawi said his three-year-old son was bitten on the hand and toes, and that he himself was also bitten days later. He said families now take turns sleeping to try to protect each other, as traps have proven largely ineffective in the overcrowded camps and ruined homes.
“They strike in our sleep,” he said, describing how rodents disappear for short periods before returning and forcing their way through damaged floors and structures.
Health officials warn that the situation is likely to worsen as temperatures rise and access to pest control products remains restricted. Mohamed Abu Selmia, head of Gaza’s largest hospital, said Israel’s ban on materials such as rat poison has made it difficult to contain the outbreak.
Palestinian bride-to-be Amani Abu Selmi holds damaged wool clothes inside a tent, after they were bitten by rodents, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, April 26, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer
He said hospitals are already treating growing numbers of patients affected by rodent-related incidents, particularly among children, the elderly, and vulnerable patients, and warned of potential outbreaks of diseases such as rat-bite fever, leptospirosis, and plague.
“Every day, hospitals record cases of patients being admitted due to rodent-related incidents,” he said.
The sanitation crisis is being driven by widespread destruction of Gaza’s sewage and waste systems, combined with ongoing restrictions on humanitarian supplies and continued instability despite a ceasefire announced in October.
With waste collection largely halted, rubbish and contaminated water have accumulated near densely packed tent settlements, creating conditions that allow rodents and parasites to spread easily, aid groups say.
The World Health Organization’s local representative, Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, said there had been around 17,000 rodent and parasite-related infection cases in Gaza so far this year.
“This is just the unfortunate but predictable consequence when people live in a collapsed living environment,” she said.
