Israel’s war on Gaza live: 12 killed in attack on Nuseirat camp

Skin diseases are running rampant in Gaza, health officials say, from appalling conditions in overcrowded tent camps housing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israel’s war now entering its 10th month.

Palestinians have no soap to wash themselves, their children or their clothes during the summer heat, a report by the AP said. According to the UN, the sanitation system has collapsed amid Israel’s bombardment and offensives.

The World Health Organization has reported more than 160,00 cases of lice, scabies and skin rashes. At one hospital, doctors report hundreds of skin disease cases a day, including a steady stream of children, covered in spots, scabs, rashes and lesions that turn into worse infections.

Cleanliness is impossible in the ramshackle tents, basically wood frames hung with blankets or plastic sheets, crammed side by side over wide stretches.

People have to wear the same clothes day after day until they’re able to wash them, then they wear them again immediately. Flies are everywhere. Children play in garbage-strewn sand.