Health and environmental impacts of Gaza conflict (2023-2024): A review

Abstract

The war in Gaza, which erupted on October 7, 2023, unleashed unprecedented assaults from the air, sea, and land, affecting the densely populated area of 360 square kilometers housing 2.3 million people. The conflict claimed over 36 000 Palestinian lives, with women and children making up 70% of the casualties, and resulted in more than 80 000 injuries. The devastation was extensive, with over 70% of homes destroyed, along with six universities, numerous hospitals, communication networks, sewage systems, water desalination plants, roads, wells, and other essential infrastructure. Over a million people were displaced from the northern regions to the southern coastal area of Al-Mawasi, which constitutes less than 3% of Gaza's total area, facing dire shortages of water, healthcare, food, and medicine. The collapse of sewage networks and garbage accumulation led to an increase in flies, mosquitoes, insects, and rodents, contributing to the spread of infectious and non-communicable diseases among the displaced population. This research aimed to study the health and environmental impacts of the war in Gaza through data collection, field visits, and photographic documentation. The findings revealed catastrophic conditions, with the destruction of all infrastructure, including buildings, hospitals, universities, mosques, churches, sanitation, water networks, and communications, and the spread of diseases such as intestinal, respiratory infections, and skin infections due to the complete lack of basic life necessities.

Keywords

Gaza / War / AL-Mawasi / Displacement / Health / Environment / Infections

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study received no extramural funding.

Data availability statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Authors’ contributions

Dardona Z played the key role in data collection, composing the article, identifying relevant sources, writing, providing photographic documentation, and revising the text through linguistic and editorial editing. Amane M contributed to the research review and offered support in the writing process, while Dardona A assisted in both writing and reviewing tasks. Boussaa S supervised the entire project, performed a comprehensive review, managed communication with the journal, and provided significant assistance in writing, data collection, and editing.

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