oPt: Un médecin de Caritas à Gaza dénonce une crise sanitaire causée par une prolifération alarmante de rongeurs

# Gaza’s Rodent Infestation Has Spawned a Full-Blown Public Health Catastrophe, Aid Workers Warn A medical staffer with the humanitarian organization Caritas Jerusalem has raised the alarm over a rapidly escalating public health emergency in the Gaza Strip, as World Health Organization (WHO) data records more than 70,000 cases of rodent-borne and ectoparasite infections in the territory since the start of 2026 alone. The crisis is not a random public health anomaly: it is a direct, predictable outcome of Gaza’s years-long humanitarian collapse, where damaged infrastructure, mass displacement, and severe restrictions on access to basic services have created ideal conditions for rodent populations to proliferate unchecked. In an anonymous interview published by ReliefWeb, the Caritas physician described first encountering a severe rodent bite case roughly 45 days prior to the interview, when a colleague called at midnight seeking guidance for his 35-year-old brother. The patient had been bitten on his left index finger by a rat while sleeping in a partially destroyed building surrounded by piles of rubble and uncollected solid waste. The standard care pathway for the injury—wound cleaning with soap and water, tetanus vaccination, antibiotic ointment, and a full course of oral antibiotics to prevent infection—is increasingly out of reach for most Gazans, as the territory’s health system buckles under compounding pressures from conflict, blockade, and resource shortages. The physician noted that rodent bite and related infection cases have risen sharply in recent months, with displaced families living in overcrowded, unsanitary temporary shelters bearing the brunt of the outbreak. Most victims are bitten while sleeping, as rats scavenge for food scraps in damaged residential buildings and informal camps with almost no access to pest control supplies. The WHO’s 70,000-case tally is widely considered a significant undercount: movement restrictions, widespread damage to health facilities, and persistent shortages of medical staff and supplies prevent thousands of infected people from accessing formal care each month. The crisis lays bare the cascading, long-term impacts of Gaza’s protracted humanitarian emergency, exacerbated by a 16-year blockade, repeated rounds of conflict that have destroyed critical waste management and water sanitation infrastructure, and severe restrictions on the import of essential goods including pest control supplies and medical equipment. Caritas Jerusalem, which has delivered humanitarian aid in the occupied Palestinian territory for more than 50 years, has repeatedly called for unimpeded access to deliver aid and address the root causes of the infestation, including the clearance of rubble and restoration of basic public services. Public health experts warn that without urgent, coordinated intervention, the rodent-borne outbreak could spread to neighboring regions and spark a wider regional health emergency, as Gaza’s already exhausted health system lacks the capacity to contain the current surge in infections.