As the coldest days of winter settle over the Gaza Strip, a new threat is sweeping through its displaced communities and shattered neighbourhoods: a fast-spreading influenza outbreak that health officials say is unprecedented in the Palestinian territory's history.
For a population already ravaged by two years of war, malnutrition and the near-total collapse of the healthcare system, the virus poses yet another challenge in the battle for survival.
Dr Ahed Samour, head of the family and childhood disease department at Gaza's Health Ministry, said the situation is nothing short of alarming.
“The dangerous spread of influenza at this scale is unprecedented in Gaza,” he told The National. "We fear the peak will come at the end of January and in February. There is real concern that the virus could lead to deaths, especially among children and the elderly."
Dozens of Palestinians have already been admitted to intensive care units, a situation Dr Samour said was unheard of in Gaza before the war.
More than three months into a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Gaza has yet to receive adequate supplies of food, medical supplies, shelters and other humanitarian aid through Israeli-controlled border crossings.
“We have thousands of influenza vaccine doses ready outside Gaza but the occupation has prevented them from entering,” Dr Samour said. "Medication and painkillers are also being blocked." Without intervention, Gaza is heading towards a “catastrophe”, the doctor added.
Gaza mother
Hammouda Abu Al Qumsan, 27, who lives in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza city, told The National he spent more than a week confined to bed after contracting the flu, with symptoms more severe than any previous illness he had suffered. “The virus that infected me and most people in Gaza is extremely exhausting,” he said. "Severe fatigue, pain, shortness of breath. I thought I had a very serious disease.
“I could find only expensive painkillers and even those are not within reach for most people," he said. "What scares me most is being infected again, or one of my family members, when Gaza’s health system can’t treat us.”
Forced from their homes by Israel's devastating bombing campaign, most of Gaza's two million population now live in densely packed camps of tents and makeshift shelters that offer little protection from the winter cold and rain. Disease spreads rapidly because of the crowded conditions and lack of proper sanitation.
Maysoun Abu Ghaben, 36, who lives in a tent in the central Nuseirat area, said all four of her children fell rapidly ill with the flu. “It was the first time I saw my children in such a state,” she told The National. “I had nothing to offer them except lemon juice."
Her 11-year-old daughter Raghad’s condition became critical. “She was admitted to the intensive care unit two days ago,” Ms Abu Ghaben said. “We are still waiting for her to improve so we can take her back to the tent."
She said she saw many families arriving at the hospital with the same symptoms and leaving without treatment.
“There is no medicine at all,” she said. “A strip of paracetamol now costs almost 10 shekels [$3.20], if you can find it. Before the war it was less than one shekel, or available free of charge.”
What once would have been a normal seasonal flu has transformed into a public health emergency, magnified by hunger, displacement and a healthcare system lacking the means to provide proper treatment.
“Influenza is no longer a simple illness in Gaza,” Dr Samour said. "It is becoming deadly, because people have nothing left to fight it with."
