Rats infest Gaza’s tent camps, biting children and spreading disease
Key takeaways
- She and her mother showed Reuters holes the rodents had eaten through her gown, a traditional burgundy embroidered dress that is customary in Palestinian weddings.
- “All my happiness was gone, it turned to sadness, turned to heartbreak – that my things are gone, my wedding trousseau is gone,” said Abu Selmi, 20.
- A rat bit the hand and toes of Khalil Al-Mashharawi’s 3-year-old son several weeks ago, he said.
Why this matters: local context for readers following news across Pakistan and the region.
Add ARY News on Google CAIRO/GAZA: Rats and parasites are spreading through Gaza’s tent camps for displaced Palestinians, biting children’s fingers and toes as they sleep, gnawing through people’s few remaining treasured possessions, and spreading disease.
The outbreak is unfolding as most of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have been displaced, many now living in bombed-out homes and makeshift tents pitched on open ground, roadsides, or atop the ruins of destroyed buildings.
Just days before her wedding day, Amani Abu Selmi, displaced with her family in Khan Younis in the south, discovered that rats had gnawed through the garments and bags of her wedding trousseau inside the tattered tent where they have been sheltering.