Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Beside a mountain of destroyed rubble, Samah al-Dabla lives in a makeshift tent with her children, gripped by a fear that did not exist in their lives before the war: the rats that now invade their shelter.
Samah always keeps her children, three-year-old Mayaseen and four-year-old Asaad, in sight and spends most of her day cleaning in a desperate attempt to discourage the rats, but to no avail.
A week ago she was woken in the middle of the night by Mayaseen screaming, “Thief, thief.” At first Samah did not understand what was happening, but when she picked up her daughter she noticed blood on her hand.
“Her father turned on a flashlight, and we saw the rat running inside the tent … it was very large, like a rabbit.”
The parents realised the animal had attacked Mayaseen and bitten her hand, causing visible bleeding and staining their mattress. The local medical clinic was unable to treat Mayaseen; she was taken to central Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital. Despite receiving treatment, the child remains terrified.
“She has become very afraid,” Samah says. “Every night she wants to sleep in my arms. She wakes up terrified, afraid of hearing the sounds of rats near us.” Samah herself struggles to sleep, fearing a repeat of the incident.
Samah believes the rats have become more aggressive because they “have become used to eating human bodies under the rubble” – more than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. “The situation is very frightening … rats and mice are everywhere,” she says, pointing to a pile of rubble filled with holes that the rodents use as shelters.
“Every day, when evening comes, I feel terror because the rats spread in a horrifying way,” she adds. “Yesterday, I returned to my tent at night and found them all over that hill … a terrifying scene no human can imagine.”
Samah and her family are forced to live in a tent that barely shelters them, surrounded by rubble in Gaza City [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Rodent haven
Hundreds of thousands in Gaza are living in tents after being forced from their homes by attacks and evacuation orders. With no sign of reconstruction on the horizon, despite a ceasefire beginning in October, people must manage with what they have.
That means sourcing clean water, finding power and internet, getting food, and dealing with disease-carrying pests like rats – a problem expected to worsen as summer approaches.
Samah, displaced from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, has tried to buy rat poison but says prices are too high and her family has barely enough money to eat. Before the war her husband worked as a strawberry farmer; now the family’s income has stopped and securing food is the top priority.
Any food she gets can attract more rats. “Many times I’ve brought food from the community kitchen, covered it, and then returned after a short time to find rat droppings on it,” Samah says. “I had to throw it all away … they always ruin our flour bags.”
Rats also destroy clothes, personal belongings, and even tents. “Rats ate our clothes and bags … the edges of our tent, everything,” she adds. Despite continuous efforts to keep things clean, the rodents persist. Individual attempts to clear rubble often displace rodents into surrounding areas.
“Everyone around me is suffering … neighbours, relatives … everyone is complaining because of the rats … every time they clean a place, the rats come to us … the issue needs an organised official effort to control them.”
There is little sanitation in Gaza, providing rats and other pests an environment in which to thrive [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Difficult to confront
Dr Ayman Abu Rahma, director of preventive medicine at the Ministry of Health, describes Gaza as a “health hazard environment” that has led to an unprecedented spread of rodents. He cites three main reasons: accumulated waste, destruction of sewage infrastructure, and rubble that may conceal decomposing bodies.
Abu Rahma says emergency and primary care cases from bites have risen, especially among children and the elderly. Diabetic patients are particularly vulnerable because they may not feel bites, which can lead to severe complications. Rats also transmit disease through urine and waste, causing fevers and other symptoms.
Gaza Municipality officials say the situation is worsened by an Israeli ban on importing pest-control materials, including a poison previously used for rodent control, and that alternatives have been unsuccessful. Waste management problems are also worsening: Gaza City’s main landfill contains roughly 300,000 cubic metres of waste, a breeding ground for rodents in a densely populated area. Officials have discussed converting waste into organic fertiliser, but options remain limited because much municipal equipment was destroyed in the war.
There is little sanitation in Gaza, providing rats and other pests an environment in which to thrive [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Health problems
With few solutions, Palestinians in Gaza are suffering. Basel al-Dahnoun was already dealing with several illnesses before a rat bite added to his problems.
The 47-year-old says he was returning from a dialysis session when he fell asleep exhausted. He woke feeling a slight sting in his foot. His wife noticed a rat inside their tent, turned on a torch, and saw his foot bleeding heavily.
“I looked at my foot, and the mattress and mat were full of blood … then my wife turned and saw the rat and chased it away … that’s when I realised the rat had bitten my foot,” Basel says from his wheelchair.
Because of his illnesses he has lost sensation in his limbs and did not feel the bite. Basel suffers kidney failure, diabetes, and severe eyesight problems. He was transferred to hospital and treated; doctors took samples from his heel and toes to check for infection, and surgery was scheduled within two days because of the wound.
“Wounds in diabetic patients heal with difficulty and may worsen,” he says. Since the episode he lives in constant fear for himself and his four children, checking on them with his wife despite limited mobility.
“All night I hear the rats outside the tents trying to break in or tear the canvas … I hear them even when I am lying down,” he says. In his camp there is no infrastructure and no separation between sleeping, cooking, sewage, or waste areas, allowing rodents to thrive.
“I want anyone to come and film here at night … the numbers are huge, not just one or two rats … we try to fight them with sticks and brooms, but there is no poison or any real solution.”
“I am mentally exhausted … truly exhausted,” Basel adds. “I did not ask for money … nothing … I just want to live in stability … in a clean place … this is not life.”
