The humanitarian crisis

Msf's denunciation: 'Unspeakable conditions in Gaza'

The health emergency aggravated by rats is compounded by growing malnutrition. Nurse Rami Atta: 'We see no end to this nightmare'

by Cristina Carpinelli

8 May 2026

Una ripresa dal drone mostra edifici danneggiati e distrutti durante l'offensiva militare israeliana, dopo il cessate il fuoco tra Israele e Hamas, a Khan Younis, nella Striscia di Gaza meridionale, REUTERS

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Rami Atta is a nurse for Doctors Without Borders. He is Palestinian and coordinates the work of the two primary health care centres for Médecins Sans Frontières in the Strip of Gaza as head of nursing activities.

"I am not only a humanitarian worker, I am also a Palestinian from Gaza. That is, I live what every other person here in the Strip is living and at the same time I try to take care of their health,' he says. He adds that what he has to carry on his shoulders is a double burden, referring to the everyday life he has to return to once the treatment is over. A living, he explains, without dignity or privacy. "People live crammed into overcrowded tents and camps, there is not enough space".
In the heat, the spread of insect- and parasite-related diseases is increasing. "The high temperatures and living crammed together is causing fleas, ticks and lice to proliferate. But it is mainly rats that scare us,' Rami says. We have more and more cases of children being bitten by rats'. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, by mid-April, rats were frequently visible in 1,326 of the 1,644 sites assessed in Gaza, 81 per cent. So much so that Israel allowed the entry of 1,000 traps. In Rafah and Khan Yunis, where displaced people are massed, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has organised dozens of disinfestations. But the situation is now out of control.

"We are seeing, skin diseases that we have never seen before. Ectoparasitic infections and mouse-borne diseases such as leptospirosis. Unfortunately, this is our new normal,' comments Rami bitterly. A picture that coincides with data from the World Health Organisation, which speaks of some 17,000 ectoparasite infections (lice, fleas and ticks) in the first four months of 2026.

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A health emergency also linked to the scarce supply of medicines and hygiene products. "Products classified as dual use by the IDF, including hygiene products, clean water and sewage disposal tools, are completely absent. Water is scarce. And now we are running out of fuel. Without vehicles, we cannot reach our patients'. A concatenation of events that, Rami explains, makes the situation now beyond catastrophic.

Médecins Sans Frontières' data speak of increasing cases of malnutrition even now, despite the truce. According to the NGO, between June 2025 and January 2026, 90 per cent of children born to malnourished mothers were born prematurely and 84 per cent had low birth weight.

"Prices of basic necessities have skyrocketed. The most vulnerable, the elderly, the children are paying the price. And above all, the bombing has not stopped,' continues Rami, who emphasises that 'most people cannot afford anything'.

Israel in fact imposes very strict entry bans on humanitarian goods. "There is a ban on goods that Israel considers dual use, i.e. that could also be used for terrorist purposes. Unfortunately, however, the same goods enter via commercial trucks on which the same kind of strict controls are not carried out as for humanitarian goods,' says Silvia Mancini, head of humanitarian affairs at Msf.

So it happens that the NGOs are forced to buy (and at a high price) what is actually left outside the crossings. A paradox that also brings with it a long trail of victims. "Seeing a man die from decompensated diabetes is something that hurts you deeply," explains Roberto Scaini, who left the Strip at the end of February. Meanwhile, a new night of vigil is being held in Gaza to prevent rats from biting children. "We don't see an end to this nightmare. I can no longer even describe the conditions we live in,' Rami concludes.