What’s the significance?
As temperatures rise and make life in Gaza more difficult, aid agencies are being forced to incorporate climate change into their plans for relief
- Record temperatures add misery to Gaza
- Extreme heat ‘complicating’ humanitarian response
- Aid agencies are tailoring their responses to deal with extreme heat
BEIRUT In Gaza, the sky is filled with danger. Along with the missiles that fall on shelters and schools, the harsh rays of the sun make the summer unpalatable for those who are struggling to survive in the shattered area of rubble and ruins.
Samaher al-Daour sometimes wishes she was killed in the first days of the Israel-Hamas conflict instead of having the burden of watching her child, who was injured in the war, endure the scorching heat.
“The situation is horrible,” Daour, 42, said. Daour 42-year-old Daour while she sat with her son, 20 years old Haitham, in their sweaty tent in the city of Khan Younis’s southern region. in Khan Younis in June.
“During the day, it is incredibly hot inside and outside the tent,” she said in a phone interview. “We go to the sea but it is still very difficult.”
Haitham was injured in February following an Israeli airstrike that hit a school operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) in the Maghazi refugee camp located in the center of the Gaza Strip.
Now, the scorching heat is making him unable to get the rest he requires to regain his strength. He sweats constantly, irritating and swelling his leg.
After a decade of conflict, the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are forced to relocate. They reside in overcrowded tents or shelters, with nearly no electricity and no clean water.
Insufferably hungry and weak, they are unable to shower and fight to sleep in their hot shelters. As the temperatures rise, their food items become rotten, drawing insects and flies to the camps. Those who have had to flee repeatedly are now at risk of heatstroke and other diseases linked to heat.
Several Days of Extreme Heat
From April to the present, Gaza has experienced several days of extreme heat, averaging 40 ° Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). According to U.S. private forecaster AccuWeather, the temperature in August was an average of 34 C (93 F).
In the last week of June, the World Health Organization said scorching temperatures could worsen health issues among the millions of refugees. It warned that an epidemic of public health was on the horizon because of the shortage of clean water, food, and medical items.
The heat is creating more challenges for aid organizations, already being hampered because of combat, airstrikes, and destroyed infrastructure.
“It would be fair to say that the majority of humanitarian responders, including donors … have not really considered the threats of heat and extreme heat,” said Paul Knox Clarke, principal at ADAPT, the humanitarian and climate-related initiative.
“The horrors” humanitarian organizations face in times of crisis are, like to him, usually too time-consuming and prevent them from dealing with extra problems, such as adjusting to the impacts of climate change in humanitarian operations.
“It is not unprecedented, but it’s not part of the normal playbook,” said the official.
“It has been complicating everything,” said Prabu Selvam, medical officer at the Americares relief organization. Transporting medications that require keeping cool was also complicated.
Due to Israeli restrictions, Aid trucks are often forced to endure long hours in the sunshine in the midst of waiting to be cleared.
“Of course, it is going to impact the communities, because often the cold chain medicines are the ones that are most critically in need,” Selvam stated.
A New Challenge Awaits Aid Agencies
Nearly 4000 people have died and almost 92,000 injured after the Israeli army began its offensive against Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel began its offensive following Hamas-led militants stormed Israel in October. Seven killed around 1200 people and captured around 250 prisoners, adequate to Israeli figures.
The war has destroyed schools, homes, and critical infrastructure like hospitals as well as clinics.
Israel has drastically restricted its supply of food aid and other items to the Gaza Strip, and human rights organizations have warned of the possibility of famine.
Summer’s intense heat has added a new layer of suffering. In recent years, several deadly heat waves have hit across the Mediterranean region, and scientists believe climate changes are responsible for them.
The charity Preserve the Children is currently expanding its operations in Gaza, citing Fadi Dweik, an expert on climate resilience.
Dweik said to Context that the organization typically will focus on providing mental health and educational support as its first line of defense.
However, the company has emphasized sanitation, water services, and health and nutrition support.
“The conflict made us think of details and apply alternatives we had not thought of before,” Dweik told reporters. “For the first time the environmental factors are a priority because we cannot ignore them despite the war and destruction that exists.”
The heat isn’t anything Sabah Khames can ignore, either.
In May, the 62-year-old woman fled her home in Rafah, just near the Egyptian border. She lives in a tent with 18 other relatives.
“The tent is a cramped caravan constructed entirely of sheet metal. It is like a sauna inside,” she said in an interview.