'All These Rashes': Chickenpox Surges in Gaza Camps
A chickenpox outbreak is spreading rapidly through overcrowded displacement camps in Gaza due to poor sanitation and the inability to isolate patients. Health officials report over 9,300 suspected cases, exacerbated by a lack of clean water and extreme population density.
Why it matters
The surge in infectious disease in conflict zones underscores the critical humanitarian crisis and the breakdown of public health infrastructure.
Eight-year-old Ruba Saadeh spends her days confined to the tent she shares with her family in Gaza, her body dotted with inflamed red blisters as chickenpox sweeps through overcrowded camps like the one they live in.
Doctors and displaced families in Gaza say the highly contagious disease has surged in recent months as war has forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into cramped tent camps with no clean water for hygiene.
"The doctor told us she needs daily cleaning and should be isolated for 20 days," Ruba's 19-year-old sister Alaa told AFP. "But how can we isolate her? We all live in one tent."
UNICEF said health officials had already recorded more than 9,300 suspected cases of chickenpox across Gaza in early July, concentrated mainly in Khan Yunis in the south.
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