SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Palestinian children stand in a puddle of water on July 22, 2025 in Khan Younis, Gaza.
(Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Cases of Water-Borne Illnesses Surge in Gaza Under Israeli Blockade: Oxfam
"It is shameful Israel has been allowed to besiege Gaza and create this catastrophe."
Jul 24, 2025
Oxfam International said Wednesday that cases of water-borne illnesses are surging in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli government continues to impede the flow of desperately needed humanitarian assistance, depriving Palestinians of access to uncontaminated water, medicine, food, and other necessities.
The aid organization said that health data from the besieged enclave "shows that the numbers of Palestinians presenting to health facilities with acute watery diarrhea have increased by 150%, bloody diarrhea by 302%, and acute jaundice cases by 101%"—figures that likely understate the extent of the health crisis given that many Gazans lack access to healthcare facilities.
The enclave's manufactured hunger crisis has worsened the spread of disease, as malnutrition weakens the immune system, particularly in children.
"The conditions that Palestinians in Gaza are being forced to endure have created a Petri dish for disease. These are diseases that thrive where people lack water—clean or otherwise—and are stuck in overcrowded, unsanitary environments with almost no food," said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.
"There is a grim and deliberate inevitability as to what Israel has created in Gaza. Each day that its siege continues and it denies aid, starvation becomes increasingly widespread and human deaths from entirely preventable diseases becomes an absolute certainty," Khalidi continued. "It is shameful Israel has been allowed to besiege Gaza and create this catastrophe. Nothing other than complete access to Gaza to deliver aid at scale can alleviate the conditions that people have been forced to live in."
The spread of disease has been a major concern of humanitarian organizations and the United Nations since Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip following the deadly Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. The World Health Organization warned the month after Israel began its assault that disease could ultimately be a bigger killer than bombs in the Gaza Strip.
Khalidi said Wednesday that each day the Israeli siege continues, "starvation becomes increasingly widespread and human deaths from entirely preventable diseases becomes an absolute certainty."
Gaza's Ministry of Health said Thursday that at least 113 Palestinians, most of them children, have died of starvation in the enclave since October 2023.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said in a statement Thursday that a colleague told him people in Gaza "are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses."
"When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold," said Lazzarini. "Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak, and at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Oxfam International said Wednesday that cases of water-borne illnesses are surging in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli government continues to impede the flow of desperately needed humanitarian assistance, depriving Palestinians of access to uncontaminated water, medicine, food, and other necessities.
The aid organization said that health data from the besieged enclave "shows that the numbers of Palestinians presenting to health facilities with acute watery diarrhea have increased by 150%, bloody diarrhea by 302%, and acute jaundice cases by 101%"—figures that likely understate the extent of the health crisis given that many Gazans lack access to healthcare facilities.
The enclave's manufactured hunger crisis has worsened the spread of disease, as malnutrition weakens the immune system, particularly in children.
"The conditions that Palestinians in Gaza are being forced to endure have created a Petri dish for disease. These are diseases that thrive where people lack water—clean or otherwise—and are stuck in overcrowded, unsanitary environments with almost no food," said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.
"There is a grim and deliberate inevitability as to what Israel has created in Gaza. Each day that its siege continues and it denies aid, starvation becomes increasingly widespread and human deaths from entirely preventable diseases becomes an absolute certainty," Khalidi continued. "It is shameful Israel has been allowed to besiege Gaza and create this catastrophe. Nothing other than complete access to Gaza to deliver aid at scale can alleviate the conditions that people have been forced to live in."
The spread of disease has been a major concern of humanitarian organizations and the United Nations since Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip following the deadly Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. The World Health Organization warned the month after Israel began its assault that disease could ultimately be a bigger killer than bombs in the Gaza Strip.
Khalidi said Wednesday that each day the Israeli siege continues, "starvation becomes increasingly widespread and human deaths from entirely preventable diseases becomes an absolute certainty."
Gaza's Ministry of Health said Thursday that at least 113 Palestinians, most of them children, have died of starvation in the enclave since October 2023.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said in a statement Thursday that a colleague told him people in Gaza "are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses."
"When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold," said Lazzarini. "Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak, and at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need."
Oxfam International said Wednesday that cases of water-borne illnesses are surging in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli government continues to impede the flow of desperately needed humanitarian assistance, depriving Palestinians of access to uncontaminated water, medicine, food, and other necessities.
The aid organization said that health data from the besieged enclave "shows that the numbers of Palestinians presenting to health facilities with acute watery diarrhea have increased by 150%, bloody diarrhea by 302%, and acute jaundice cases by 101%"—figures that likely understate the extent of the health crisis given that many Gazans lack access to healthcare facilities.
The enclave's manufactured hunger crisis has worsened the spread of disease, as malnutrition weakens the immune system, particularly in children.
"The conditions that Palestinians in Gaza are being forced to endure have created a Petri dish for disease. These are diseases that thrive where people lack water—clean or otherwise—and are stuck in overcrowded, unsanitary environments with almost no food," said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.
"There is a grim and deliberate inevitability as to what Israel has created in Gaza. Each day that its siege continues and it denies aid, starvation becomes increasingly widespread and human deaths from entirely preventable diseases becomes an absolute certainty," Khalidi continued. "It is shameful Israel has been allowed to besiege Gaza and create this catastrophe. Nothing other than complete access to Gaza to deliver aid at scale can alleviate the conditions that people have been forced to live in."
The spread of disease has been a major concern of humanitarian organizations and the United Nations since Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip following the deadly Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. The World Health Organization warned the month after Israel began its assault that disease could ultimately be a bigger killer than bombs in the Gaza Strip.
Khalidi said Wednesday that each day the Israeli siege continues, "starvation becomes increasingly widespread and human deaths from entirely preventable diseases becomes an absolute certainty."
Gaza's Ministry of Health said Thursday that at least 113 Palestinians, most of them children, have died of starvation in the enclave since October 2023.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said in a statement Thursday that a colleague told him people in Gaza "are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses."
"When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold," said Lazzarini. "Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak, and at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.