‘We are constantly getting sick’: Gaza’s contaminated seawater fuels disease among displaced families
Eman Abu Zayed reports in The New Arab on 13 October 2026:
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“If we could move somewhere with clean water, we would. But even moving to another place costs money that we do not have,” Suhair says. Suhair and her family’s experience is not isolated. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 70 percent of Gaza’s sewage pumping stations were out of service in September 2026, while all six wastewater treatment plants were non-operational.
As a result, more than 150,000 cubic metres of untreated wastewater are discharged into the environment every day, increasing the risk of water contamination and posing a threat to public health.
Children at risk
On the same shoreline, the sea has become one of the few spaces available to children living in tents to play and escape the realities of displacement. Ten-year-old Abdul Rahim Sultan lived with his family in a tent near the sea and would go swimming there, like many children who have few other places to play. His mother says seawater has become part of their daily lives, not just a place for children to swim. “We use seawater every day for washing, cleaning and bathing because we don’t have another water source that is enough for us,” she says.
After one trip to the sea, Abdul Rahim’s health began to deteriorate later that day. That night, he began vomiting repeatedly and eventually had to be taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with gastroenteritis that led to dehydration.