View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bisan’8 – حكواتية (@wizard_bisan1)    ‘Diseases are spreading’  Conditions in the camp are extremely difficult, Owda says. All around Shifa Hospital, families have made camp in the streets, the carpark and inside the building’s corridors.    “Winter is coming. It’s getting colder, we don’t have a proper place to sleep, we don’t have any blankets,” Owda says. “It rained on me while I was sleeping and it made my mother start crying. For some people winter reminds them of hot chocolate, but winter in Gaza is disastrous. Are we really that lucky to be alive?”   Living in close quarters without access to sanitation facilities and enough clean water means people are starting to get ill.”People have fevers, they’re coughing, children are in danger, we could get a new Covid,” she says.   “Already, we’ve started to notice that some diseases are spreading, including smallpox,” warns Adnan Abu-Hasna from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which supports relief and human development for Palestinian refugees.    In a situation report released on October 21, the World Health Organization warned of an “imminent public health catastrophe” propelled by mass displacement, overcrowding in shelters, and damage to water and sanitation networks.Drinking water in short supply   After the bloody killings by Hamas on October 7, Israel introduced a total blockade of Gaza, cutting off clean water, electricity and fuel deliveries. Following a visit to Israel by US President Joe Biden, four humanitarian aid convoys have crossed into Gaza via the Rafah border with Egypt since October 21.    Israel has so far refused to allow fuel onto aid trucks on the grounds that Hamas could steal it from UN facilities and use it to launch attacks.    But fuel is badly needed for water purification and desalination plants to operate. Bottled water is scarce and unaffordable for most. UNRWA has been providing fuel but has warned it will run out by Wednesday night.”We are heading towards a real catastrophe of not having any drinking water in the Gaza Strip,” Abu-Hasna says.   In the camp at Shifa Hospital, Owda says the displaced get water from a nearby well that could be contaminated with sewage and saltwater.”It’s not meant for drinking, it needs to be cleaned,” she explains. “We don’t really know if it’s safe but we’re drinking it because there’s no other option.”     Humanitarian aid trucks arrive in the southern Gaza Strip from Egypt after having passed through the Rafah border crossing on October 21, 2023. © Belal al Sabbagh, AFP Sanitation network under pressure   Fuel is also needed to operate sewage and waste management systems.    “You can smell the sewage in the streets and it’s horrible,” says Abu-Hasna, who is also among the 1 million displaced Gazans. His home in the north of the enclave was partially destroyed by Israeli air strikes so he is staying with family further south.   Mass displacement is putting extra pressure on the sewage system. “You might have 5,000 people and only four toilets” in the shelters, Abu-Hasna says.In the northern part of Gaza, waste management infrastructure is not functioning, he says. “In the south, rubbish collection and treatment centres are partially operating. But everywhere you see piles of waste in the streets.”   Even in the south, Abu-Hasna says Israeli air strikes make it “very dangerous” for garbage truck drivers to move around “because they’re very exposed when travelling through to the streets”.  Israeli air strikes have destroyed entire neighbourhoods, leveling homes, schools and places of worship across Gaza.    “Why am I afraid to live? Because I’m not sure that we are lucky for surviving,” Owda says. “We’re hungry, we’re thirsty, we’re cold, we’re without our homes, we have relatives who have been murdered. Because we’ve survived, it means we will have to face all this alone.”    Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe Take international news everywhere with you! 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