The War of Rats: How Rodent Infestations Are Amplifying Gaza's Humanitarian Catastrophe

Samah al-Dabla was asleep in her tent in Gaza City when her three-year-old daughter Mayaseen began screaming. A rat had bitten the child while she slept, leaving visible bleeding wounds. Mayaseen now wakes in terror each night [1]. Ahmed Mohammed Assaliya, 34, a displaced father working in a camp kitchen, "woke up, terrified, to a rat biting my face. Blood was streaming from my nose" [2]. Inshirah Hajjaj, a 63-year-old woman with advanced diabetes, discovered a large rat gnawing at her toes — her reduced sensation from the disease meant she hadn't felt a thing until the damage was done [3].

These accounts are no longer exceptional. Across Gaza's overcrowded displacement camps, a rodent and pest crisis has reached a scale that health officials, aid workers, and residents describe as unprecedented — and worsening by the week.

The Scale of the Infestation

A UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) rapid assessment of more than 1,600 displacement sites in mid-April 2026 found that rodents or pests were "frequently visible" in over 80% of them, affecting an estimated 1.45 million people [4]. Skin infections or rashes were reported in nearly two-thirds of sites, lice in over 65%, and bedbugs in more than half [5].

Source: UN OCHA Rapid Assessment, April 2026

Data as of Apr 15, 2026CSV

The World Health Organization's local representative reported approximately 17,000 rodent and ectoparasitic infection-related cases in Gaza in the first four months of 2026 [6]. Separately, more than 70,000 cases of scabies, lice, and bedbug infections were recorded over the same period [3]. Hospitals are logging new bite cases daily, particularly among children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing conditions [1].

Source: WHO / Gaza Ministry of Health

Data as of Apr 30, 2026CSV

"We are suffering from two wars — the war of bombs, and the war of rats," said Majd Sukar, head of the Preventive Health Department at Gaza Municipality [4].

Why Now: Infrastructure Collapse and Environmental Breakdown

The infestation did not appear from nowhere. It is the predictable result of 30 months of war that have dismantled the environmental conditions necessary to keep rodent populations in check.

Nearly 90% of Gaza's water and sanitation infrastructure has been partially or entirely destroyed [7]. All six major wastewater treatment plants are non-functional. Eighty-seven percent of sewage pumping stations — 73 out of 84 — have been destroyed [7]. Researchers with United Nations University reported in January 2026 that there are "no functional wastewater or desalination treatment plants" remaining in Gaza [8].

Source: UNRWA / OCHA Situation Reports, 2026

Data as of Apr 1, 2026CSV

With no organized waste collection or transport for over 15 months, more than 2,000 tonnes of garbage has been piling up in streets and displacement sites every day [9]. Gaza City's main landfill alone contains approximately 300,000 cubic meters of waste [1]. The UN Environment Programme estimated that almost 40 million tonnes of debris were generated between October 2023 and May 2024 alone — 107 kilograms per square meter [9].

Dr. Ayman Abu Rahma, director of preventive medicine at the Gaza Ministry of Health, attributes the rodent explosion to three converging factors: accumulated waste, destroyed sewage infrastructure, and rubble containing decomposing remains [1]. In displacement camps, there is no separation between sleeping areas, cooking areas, sewage, and waste — creating conditions where rodents have both abundant food sources and direct access to people [1].

Who Bears the Greatest Risk

The populations most exposed to rodent-borne disease are precisely those least able to withstand it: young children, infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals.

Save the Children reported on May 1, 2026, that approximately 680,000 children — about two-thirds of all children in Gaza — are living in displacement sites affected by rodent or pest infestations [5]. Documented cases include a 28-day-old infant bitten on the face by a rat while sleeping in a displacement tent in Gaza City, and a three-year-old boy bitten on the hand and toes [6].

Parents describe keeping vigil through the night. One mother, identified as Ghalia, told reporters her son suffered an infected rat bite near his eye that required treatment at a Red Crescent clinic and a course of antibiotics. She said she caught 20 mice in a single day using sticky traps [4].

Diabetic patients face particular danger. Basel al-Dahnoun, 47, who has kidney failure, diabetes, and severe vision impairment, was bitten on the foot by a rat while sleeping after dialysis. He could not feel the bite due to diabetic neuropathy, leading to heavy bleeding and hospitalization requiring surgery within two days [1]. Nahla Al-Majdob, another diabetic displaced person, described her family's inability to discard contaminated food: "Before the war, I would never eat anything touched by rodents, but now... I sift it and use it anyway" [4].

Children under five face the highest risk of severe outcomes from rat bites and rodent-borne infections. Neurological complications, wound infections, and secondary sepsis are more common in young children, particularly those already weakened by malnutrition — a widespread condition in Gaza, where famine-level food insecurity has persisted since late 2024 [5][6].

The Disease Threat: What Health Officials Fear Most

The current case count — 17,000 rodent and ectoparasitic infections in four months — represents a fraction of what epidemiologists fear could come. Health officials have flagged several diseases as immediate threats [6].

Leptospirosis — a bacterial infection transmitted through contact with water or soil contaminated by rodent urine — is considered the most likely to surge first. Dr. Bassam Zaqout, director of medical relief in Gaza, had warned months before the current crisis that leptospirosis would emerge given prevailing conditions [2]. Globally, leptospirosis causes an estimated 1.03 million cases and 58,900 deaths per year, with highest rates in communities lacking sanitation infrastructure [10]. In Gaza, where raw sewage flows through camp streets and residents have no choice but to wade through contaminated water, the transmission pathway is direct.

Rat-bite fever, caused by bacteria transmitted through bites or scratches, is already being documented among bite victims. Without access to antibiotics — supplies that have been intermittent in Gaza — the disease can progress to endocarditis or meningitis [6].

Salmonellosis — spread through food contaminated by rodent feces — poses a particular threat given the near-absence of proper food storage. Saber Dawas, 38, a father of six, told reporters that rats had chewed through sealed drums storing flour, forcing him to suspend food supplies from a wooden stick above the ground to avoid contamination [4].

Officials have also raised concerns about plague, though no cases have been confirmed. The combination of high rodent density, flea populations (ectoparasites that serve as plague vectors), and a crowded human population with degraded immune systems creates textbook conditions for plague transmission [6][1].

The burden on Gaza's medical system is already extreme. Most hospitals are operating at severely reduced capacity, with shortages of staff, medicine, and equipment. The collapse of the health system means that treatable infections can become fatal, and surveillance systems that would detect early outbreaks are largely non-functional [11].

The Blockade and Pest Control: Disputed Access

A central point of contention is the restriction on pest-control materials entering Gaza.

Gaza Municipality officials and hospital administrators say Israel has banned importing rodenticides — chemical compounds used to poison rats — that were previously effective for population control. Gaza's largest hospital head, Mohamed Abu Selmia, has stated he expects the crisis to worsen as summer approaches because of this ban [6]. Doctors Without Borders has separately reported restrictions on both rodenticides and insecticides [4].

Israel generally restricts items it classifies as having potential dual military and civilian use from entering Gaza [12]. The specific security justification for restricting rodenticides has not been publicly detailed by the Israeli government, though chemical compounds can theoretically be repurposed.

COGAT, the Israeli military body that administers access to Gaza, has pushed back against characterizations of a total ban. COGAT stated that in recent weeks it facilitated the transfer of approximately 90 tons of pest control materials and over 1,000 mousetraps into Gaza [6]. The timeline and composition of these shipments — whether they include the specific rodenticides previously used, or only less effective alternatives — remains disputed. Gaza Municipality officials say efforts to find alternative pest control methods have been unsuccessful [1].

The gap between what COGAT says it has allowed and what municipal authorities and aid organizations say they have received points to a broader pattern in Gaza's aid crisis: materials may be approved for entry but face delays, diversion, or logistical obstacles in actually reaching end users.

Governance, Site Selection, and Accountability

The conditions accelerating infestation are not solely a function of the blockade and military operations. Questions of camp governance, site selection, and waste management protocols also bear scrutiny.

Displacement sites have proliferated with minimal planning. Families have pitched tents on open ground, roadsides, and atop rubble — locations chosen by desperation rather than design [6]. Many sites lack even rudimentary drainage. Families dig makeshift latrines inside or adjacent to their tents; these fill quickly and are often positioned dangerously close to water boreholes, contaminating groundwater [8].

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has continued deploying sanitation workers to clean camps, remove waste, and reduce health hazards, and plans to deliver water, sanitation, and hygiene services to at least 1.7 million people in 2026 [8]. However, since March 2025, Israeli authorities have blocked UNRWA from directly bringing humanitarian personnel and aid into Gaza, limiting the agency's operational capacity [13].

The WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) Cluster — a coordination body of humanitarian organizations — reports having over 9,000 pallets of supplies ready to enter Gaza, including materials for latrine construction, water treatment, and network repairs, pending the lifting of access restrictions [8].

Hamas governance structures and camp-level administration have limited documented capacity for vector control. Before the war, Gaza Municipality operated waste-to-fertilizer conversion projects and routine pest management, but much of this equipment has been destroyed [1]. The question of accountability is complicated by the reality that no governance entity in Gaza currently has the resources or infrastructure to mount an effective response without external support.

Historical Precedents: Displacement Camps and Rodent Crises

Rodent infestations in displacement settings are not unique to Gaza, but the current scale appears to exceed documented precedents.

In the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh — the world's largest refugee settlement — pest infestations, including rodent populations, have been a persistent challenge since 2017. Scabies outbreaks in Cox's Bazar were described as "unprecedented" by Médecins Sans Frontières [14]. However, the camps benefit from relatively more intact waste management systems and ongoing pest-control programs managed by UNHCR and partner organizations.

The Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, which housed over 80,000 Syrian refugees at its peak, implemented integrated pest management programs that included rodent control as part of broader camp maintenance — an intervention feasible because of stable governance, supply chains, and security conditions [15].

In post-earthquake Haiti (2010), rodent populations surged in displacement camps, contributing to disease transmission including leptospirosis. Interventions there included targeted rodenticide distribution, community-based trapping programs, and improved waste management — but these required months to implement and relied on international logistics chains that functioned without blockade conditions [10].

Gaza's situation is distinct in that it combines extreme population density (approximately 1.5 million of Gaza's 2.2 million residents living in makeshift shelters), near-total infrastructure destruction, active conflict restrictions on supplies, and a health system already operating beyond collapse — conditions that exceed what was present in any of these comparison cases [6][13].

What Would It Take to Respond

UNHCR's 1997 guidelines on vector and pest control in refugee situations — still the primary reference document — call for integrated vector management combining environmental modification (waste removal, drainage), chemical control (rodenticides, insecticides), biological control, and community education [15]. WHO recommends coordinating these approaches through integrated vector management frameworks to maximize cost-effectiveness [16].

In practical terms, a minimum viable response in Gaza would require several components: large-scale waste removal (requiring heavy equipment, fuel, and accessible roads), distribution of effective rodenticides and trapping equipment, restoration of basic sewage management, and protected food storage for displaced families. Each of these is currently constrained by either supply restrictions, infrastructure destruction, or security conditions.

The WASH Cluster's 9,000 pallets of pre-positioned supplies represent a partial answer, but they remain outside Gaza [8]. The 2026 UNRWA Flash Appeal called for over $4 billion to deliver life-saving assistance to 3.6 million people across Gaza and the West Bank — a figure that includes but is not limited to sanitation and pest control [13].

No single entity currently has both the mandate and the operational capacity to execute a comprehensive vector-control campaign. UNRWA has the mandate but restricted access. WHO has technical expertise but limited field presence. Gaza Municipality has local knowledge but no resources. And the fundamental obstacle — that supplies must pass through Israeli-controlled access points — remains unchanged.

Looking Ahead

As summer temperatures rise, conditions will become more favorable for rodent reproduction and disease transmission. Warmer weather accelerates bacterial growth in contaminated water and waste. Rodent breeding cycles shorten. Fly and flea populations — which serve as secondary disease vectors — expand.

Dr. Abu Rahma, the preventive medicine director, has described Gaza as a "health hazard environment" [1]. The 17,000 infection cases recorded through April 2026 may represent an early baseline rather than a peak.

The residents of Gaza's displacement camps are acutely aware of what is coming. Dina Mohammed Jendia, 20, described encountering "a weasel the size of a rabbit on my leg" at 1:30 a.m. She did not seek medical treatment, she said, because she no longer trusts the remaining health infrastructure to help her [2].

For the 1.45 million people living in affected sites, the question is not whether the situation will get worse, but whether any intervention will arrive before it does.

Limitations: Pre-war baseline data on rodent-borne disease rates in Gaza is scarce, making precise comparisons difficult. Case figures cited by WHO and the Gaza Ministry of Health may undercount actual infections given the collapse of health surveillance systems. The exact composition and distribution of the 90 tons of pest-control materials COGAT reports facilitating has not been independently verified.