On the brink: War and public health in Gaza

From the seventh of October 2023 until the date of writing this article, Gaza is still subjected to air, sea and land bombardment in a cruel war that targets the lives of its residents and all the necessities of their lives, including the destruction of infrastructure and buildings of all kinds, houses, apartments, water, food, agricultural land, roads, and all services, especially health services (hospitals and health centers), educational (schools and universities), the economy, factories and factories, and a viable environment. These elements have been systematically destroyed, starting with the indiscriminate shelling of civilians, which has killed and injured tens of thousands, and displaced most of the population internally, not to mention the suffocating siege that prevented the delivery of food and medicine, cut off water and electricity, prevented fuel for pumping and desalination, treated wastewater, sewage and solid waste, and operated bakeries, factories, means of transportation and medical devices. The environment in Gaza also suffers from physical, chemical and biological pollution caused by munitions used in shelling of all kinds, the mixing of sewage with drinking water and the accumulation of solid waste.