The heat makes the suffering in the Gaza Strip even worse

The high temperatures this summer have intensified the suffering of the many who are trying to survive in Gaza’s ravaged landscape, where large parts of the building stock now lie in ruins.

Samaher al-Daour sometimes finds herself thinking that she wishes she had been killed at the beginning of the war, which has now lasted more than ten months.

Then she had been spared seeing her son, who lost a leg in an Israeli attack, live through the almost unbearable heat.

– The situation is terrible, says the 42-year-old woman, who is sitting next to her 20-year-old son Haitham in a sweltering tent in the town of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The interview was conducted in June, before Israel launched another offensive against Gaza’s second largest city and tens of thousands of Palestinians fled again.

– During the day it is incredibly hot both inside and outside the tent, she tells the Reuters news agency by telephone. – We go to the sea, but it is still very difficult.

No rest

Haitham lost his leg in an Israeli airstrike in February. He was in the Maghazi refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. The attack was aimed at a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Now the heat makes it difficult for him to recover. He sweats all the time, which irritates the leg and causes it to swell.

After ten months of war, almost the entire population of Gaza, over 2 million inhabitants, has been displaced. Many of them live in tents or overcrowded buildings that are now used as accommodation. There is almost no electricity and very little clean water.

The lack of food is great, and in addition to being hungry and weakened, they have no opportunity to shower. They struggle to sleep in sweltering tents. In addition, the heat causes the food to rot, which in turn attracts flies and other insects. The miserable living conditions have led to an increased risk of heat stroke and other diseases caused by heat.

Since April, Gaza has experienced several periods of extreme heat, where the temperature has risen to around 40 degrees. In August, the daytime temperature has so far been between 32 and 34 degrees, while at night it is 25-27 degrees, according to the American weather forecasting service AccuWeather.

Amplifies health problems

At the end of June, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the heat could exacerbate the health problems for the many displaced people. The UN organization also warned of a public health crisis as a result of a lack of clean water, food and medicine.

The aid workers also notice that the heat creates challenges, in addition to the fact that the work is hindered by airstrikes, battles and a destroyed infrastructure.

– It would be fair to say that most of the aid organisations, including the donors, have not really assessed the threat posed by the heat and extreme heat, says Paul Knox Clarke, who heads the climate and aid organization Adapt.

He points out that the aid organizations have more than enough to cope with the “horrorities” of a crisis, and that they are thus unable to cope with other challenges, such as adapting aid work to the effects of climate change.

– It is not that they have never done it, but it is not part of the normal set-up, he says

No cool for medicines

Prabu Selvam of the aid organization Americares says the heat has made everything much more complicated. In particular, it has been difficult to transport medicines that must be kept cool. Because of the Israeli restrictions, trucks carrying emergency aid are often left for hours in the scorching sun, waiting for permission to move on.

– Of course it will affect society, because there is the greatest need for medicines that must be kept cool, he says.

According to Palestinian health authorities, almost 40,000 people have been killed and around 92,000 injured since Israel began its attacks on the Gaza Strip. The war broke out on the same day that Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups killed around 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli offensive has destroyed homes, schools and critical infrastructure, as well as hospitals and other health facilities.

Israel has had strict restrictions on what is allowed into Gaza, both in terms of food and other emergency aid, and aid organizations have for a long time warned against the danger of famine.

The summer’s extreme heat has led to a new layer of suffering.

The heat forces new thinking

In recent years, deadly heat waves have hit the Mediterranean region, which scientists link to climate change.

Save the Children has already adjusted its aid work in the Gaza Strip to take this into account, according to Fadi Dweik, the organisation’s climate change expert.

Normally, Save the Children would have prioritized programs to improve children’s mental health and ensure they go to school. But now the most important thing is clean water and hygiene services, as well as nutrition and health, Dweik told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

– The war has made us think about the details and use alternatives that we have not thought of before. For the first time, environmental factors are a priority because we cannot overlook them despite the war and the destruction, he emphasizes.

Not even Sabah Khames has the opportunity to overlook the heat. The 62-year-old woman fled her home in Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip in May. Now she lives in a tin shed with 18 other relatives.

– It’s like a sauna inside. Sometimes I hardly manage to catch my breath, she tells Reuters.