Nour Khalil is a Palestinian journalist, writer and translator from Gaza. Her work focuses on documenting Palestinian stories, displacement, culture and human experiences emerging from Gaza. Follow her on Instagram.
Every night, Shereen Abed listens for movement inside her tent. The sounds of rats moving through food bags, clothing and plastic containers have become a regular part of life for the displaced 26-year-old mother and her family. For many families living in Gaza's displacement camps, deteriorating sanitation conditions have created a new layer of hardship, as rodents and insects spread through crowded shelters.
Israel's genocide has stripped Palestinians in Gaza of access to basic necessities, while the international community has failed to take meaningful action to stop it. The reality Israel has perpetuated in Gaza has made life unbearable for its inhabitants, forcing families to live in profoundly inhumane conditions. Even within the tents meant to provide them with temporary shelter, Palestinians are confronting the loss of basic sanitation, safety and other necessities.
Shereen and her family have been displaced from Rafah three times. Now living in a crowded camp, she says rodents and insects have spread rapidly throughout the area in recent weeks. "Any sound inside the tent keeps us awake, and we are always afraid the rats will bite the children," Shereen said.
At times, she notices a rat moving across the small table where the family stores food. "They are everywhere, inside and outside the tent, day and night," she explained. The rats chew through bread bags, damage clothing and tear parts of the shelter itself.
The reality Israel has perpetuated in Gaza has made life unbearable for its inhabitants, forcing families to live in profoundly inhumane conditions.
- Nour Khalil
"We tried everything — cleaning products, poison, glue traps — nothing works," she said quietly.
Across Gaza's displacement camps, families describe similar conditions. Overcrowding, accumulated garbage and collapsing sanitation systems have created an environment where rodents, fleas and mosquitoes spread rapidly. For many displaced Palestinians, nighttime has become associated with ever-worsening fear and uncertainty, not rest.
Ansam Adnan, a pregnant woman displaced in Deir al-Balah, says insects have spread throughout the tent since she arrived in the camp. "At night, it becomes unbearable," she said. "Mosquitoes and fleas repeatedly bite members of my family, disrupting sleep and creating constant anxiety inside the small shelter."
"I clean the tent all the time, but nothing changes," she added, exhausted. "The situation is especially difficult for a pregnant woman like me."
The insects affect nearly every aspect of daily life. Food cannot be safely stored, and clothing is often damaged. "There is no comfort at all," Ansam said.
In al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, Rawan Abed says rats have eaten parts of the tarp that her family uses to keep rainwater from entering the tent. "They ate the bread, parts of our food and even our clothes," Rawan said.
Even within the tents meant to provide them with temporary shelter, Palestinians are confronting the loss of basic sanitation, safety and other necessities.
- Nour Khalil
Her family has spent nearly two years moving from one displacement camp to another. Like many families, they do their best to clean their tent daily with minimal resources and use pesticides and traps whenever possible, but the infestations continue to spread.
"At night, they move around us while we try to sleep," she said. "There is no sense of security."
Doctors in Gaza warn that conditions inside displacement camps are becoming increasingly dangerous. Dr. Mohammad Qashta, head of the Internal Medicine Department at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, says overcrowded camps and rodent infestations increase the risk of infections, pneumonia, skin diseases and serious complications, especially among children, pregnant women, elderly people and immunocompromised patients.
"These conditions increase the risk of infectious disease through contaminated food and water," Qashta explained.
According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 1.9 million people remain displaced in Gaza. Qashta described the situation inside many camps bluntly: "It is not humane."
Public health conditions across Gaza have sharply deteriorated after months of displacement, infrastructure collapse and limited access to clean water and sanitation. For many displaced families, however, the crisis is measured through small daily moments. They include mothers unable to sleep because of scratching sounds near their children, pregnant women repeatedly cleaning the same corner of the tent, just for insects to return hours later or a parent discovering that rats have already contaminated the little food their family managed to secure overnight.
Families say they feel abandoned. "No one is helping us," Shereen Abed said. The tents meant to provide temporary shelter have gradually become spaces associated with filth, pests, exhaustion and fear.
Ending these inhumane conditions requires holding Israel accountable for the reality it has created in Gaza. The world should be ashamed that Palestinians continue to endure such circumstances while the international community allows this suffering to persist. The longer these conditions are allowed to continue, the more deeply they become woven into the lives of Palestinians who have already endured unimaginable loss and displacement. Silence and inaction cannot normalize what should never be considered a normal or acceptable way of life.
Across Gaza's camps, many families remain awake long after midnight, listening carefully to the sounds moving through the darkness around them. They deserve to sleep in peace, just as they deserve a real home and an end to all forms of violence inflicted upon them.
The views and positions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of DAWN.
