More than 9,300 suspected chickenpox cases recorded in Gaza camps amid overcrowding and poor sanitation

More than 9,300 suspected chickenpox cases have been recorded across Gaza in early July, concentrated mainly in the southern city of Khan Yunis, UNICEF said. The highly contagious disease has spread through tent camps where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians live in cramped conditions without clean water.

Eight-year-old Ruba Saadeh remains confined to the single tent she shares with her family near Khan Yunis, her body covered in inflamed red blisters.

Her 19-year-old sister Alaa Saadeh said a doctor prescribed daily cleaning and 20 days of isolation, yet the family has no separate space to carry out the order. Dermatologist Raed Abdel Karim Abu Sariya of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said chickenpox spreads through respiratory infection and requires isolation.

He noted that separating sick from healthy people is virtually impossible when 10 to 20 people share one small tent.

Alaa Saadeh said the family receives water only once a week and that it is salty and unclean. She added that her father has been unemployed for three years and the household cannot buy cleaning materials. Ruba Saadeh said she used to shower daily but now has no soap, shampoo or detergent, and cannot sleep because of rats.

UNICEF spokeswoman Louise Wateridge said more than half of households in Gaza are reporting skin diseases, fleas, lice and scabies, along with respiratory infections and watery diarrhea. She said an increasing number of children require hospitalization while the health system is on the brink of collapse.

Wateridge said the outbreak will not subside without addressing the root causes, including the lack of space and the presence of rodents in the camps.