Gaza sanitation ‘perfect storm for tragedy’, UN warns

Fuel shortages and worsening sanitation in the Gaza Strip are shaping up to be the perfect storm for tragedy through the spread of disease, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, said there was a serious threat of a mass disease outbreak in the besieged Palestinian territory.

"Without enough fuel, we will see the collapse of sanitation services. So we have then, on top of the mortars and the bombs, a perfect storm for the spread of disease.

"It's a perfect storm for tragedy," UNICEF spokesman James Elder told a press briefing in Geneva.

"We have a desperate lack of water, faecal matter strewn across densely populated settlements, an unacceptable lack of latrines, and severe, severe restraints on hand-washing, personal hygiene and cleaning."

Speaking via video-link from Cairo, Elder said the potential for wider loss of life in Gaza was being significantly exacerbated because an estimated 800,000 children in the enclave are displaced from their homes.

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"If children's access to water and sanitation in Gaza continues to be restricted and insufficient, we will see a tragic yet entirely avoidable surge in the number of children dying," said Elder.

"It's also important to note it's starting to rain in Gaza. Now combined, children face a serious threat of mass disease outbreak. This, of course, would be lethal."

Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking around 240 people hostage, according to Israeli officials.

In retaliation, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, killing more than 13,300 Palestinians, thousands of them children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Supplies of water, electricity, fuel and food were cut off to the impoverished and densely populated territory in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks.

Elder called for the release of 30 or so children being held hostage "somewhere in this hellscape", saying their fear and torment "has to end".

UNICEF is particularly concerned about the risk of a cholera outbreak in the Gaza Strip, fearing an exponential rise in child deaths if an outbreak was to strike.

Cholera, which has not so far been detected in Gaza, is contracted from a bacterium that is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water.

It causes diarrhoea and vomiting, and can be especially dangerous for young children.

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