'Exposed to death' Polio jabs rolled out in Gaza as diseases spread in makeshift camps

Like so many in Gaza, Eid al-Attar, a teacher from the north of the Strip, now spends his days trying to find enough food and water to keep his family alive.

- Malak A Tantesh

Displaced eight times since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, the 42-year-old has tried his best to shield his five children from the conflict. Now the Palestinian territory is facing a new danger: the highly infectious and potentially deadly disease, polio.

"We cannot protect our children.

We are exposed to death at any moment due to the constant bombardment and insecurity. And I cannot protect them from diseases either," he told the Guardian in Deir al-Balah on Sunday as a UN-led vaccination campaign began.

"We live in a tent, which does not protect us from anything, there are no medicines, there is garbage everywhere, and the streets are filled with wastewater."

Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza has decimated the territory's healthcare system, with 31 of 36 hospitals damaged or destroyed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). About 90% of the Strip's 2.3m population has been displaced from their homes, with the majority living in very overcrowded, unsanitary makeshift camps. Hepatitis, pneumonia and diarrhoeal diseases such as dysentery, as well as scabies, lice and debilitating rashes are already rife, the WHO says.