A new health crisis has emerged in the bombarded Gaza Strip with the detection of poliovirus in sewage, the Gaza Health Ministry revealed on Thursday.
According to a ministry statement, tests on sewage samples, conducted in coordination with UNICEF, confirmed the presence of the poliovirus. Thank
The statement emphasized that the presence of the virus in sewage, which flows through areas with displaced persons and residential zones due to infrastructure destruction, “represents a new health crisis.”
The situation is worsened by severe overcrowding, scarce and contaminated water supplies, accumulated garbage, and the Israeli blockade on hygiene supplies.
The ministry warned that the detection of the virus in sewage puts thousands of residents at risk of contracting polio.
In a separate statement, the Israeli Health Ministry confirmed on Thursday that it found components of the type 2 poliovirus in sewage samples from Gaza.
The ministry’s statement, published by Channel 12, noted that the sample results matched those of the World Health Organization.
Polio is a highly contagious viral disease that attacks the nervous system and can cause total paralysis within hours.
According to the WHO, the escalation of hostilities by Israel in Gaza has led to a continuous rise in deaths and injuries, severe overcrowding in shelters, and the disruption of health, water, and sewage systems, which could accelerate the spread of infectious diseases.
Ongoing Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 38,848 Palestinians have been killed, and 89,459 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.