Israel’s war on Gaza forces Palestinians to rely on ‘Stone Age’ toilets
Eman Shamia is among many displaced Palestinians in Gaza struggling with privacy
Eman Abu Zayed reports in Al Jazeera on 23 Aug 2026
Eman Mahmoud Shamia has been uprooted several times since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, before finally settling into a new home – a tent in a camp. It provides rudimentary shelter for 33-year-old Eman, her husband, Yahya Shamia, 50, and their five children, all under 11, but it lacks many of the basic amenities her old home provided.
With the help of a worker who specialised in digging soakaway underground drainage pits, the community in the camp built a “municipal toilet”. It provides relief but Shamia said it reminds her of the Stone Age. There is little in the way of privacy, particularly for women and children, and for some it is difficult to use or access, particularly for her husband, who suffers from an advanced stage of lung cancer.
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Economist Omar Salouha said the toilet crisis is the result of a “severe supply shock” caused by restrictions on importing toilets, sanitation supplies and plumbing materials. With more than nine in ten Palestinians in Gaza displaced and over 90 percent of homes damaged or destroyed during the war, there has been a massive increase in demand for toilet products.
“The huge imbalance between supply and demand has caused the prices of used toilets to increase several times over and created a market suffering from scarcity and distortion,” Salouha says