Amid Bombs and Bacteria: How Israel's War on Gaza Unleashes a Biological Catastrophe

Amidst the ongoing Israeli war against the defenseless Palestinian civilians, yet another crisis brews within the besieged Gaza Strip. Alongside a full-fledged military invasion, the sharp rise of dermatological and infectious diseases, as well as countless instances of unknown medical conditions, reveals the unsettling reality of an Israeli biological war in Gaza. According to human rights organizations, Israel's bombardments have had a devastating effect on Gaza's healthcare infrastructure, resulting in its near-complete collapse. As civilians have been affected by outbreaks of virus and bacterial diseases, such as hepatitis, access to safe drinking water has become an unaffordable commodity in Gaza. A ten-month-old infant has been diagnosed with polio—a disease that has not afflicted the Palestinian enclave for the past twenty-five years. The breakdown of Gaza's medical infrastructure has also condemned countless cancer patients to a slow, excruciating death, denying them treatments that could have offered a glimmer of hope. Israel's deliberate targeting of international aid agencies aggravates the already dire circumstances in Gaza. The catastrophic situation in Gaza is indeed unprecedented in the annals of warfare—a tragedy in which the depths of human depravity exceed the darkest chapters of history.