Um Muhammad Al-Masri, displaced from the northern city of Beit Hanoun, never lets her asthmainhalor. She says she would die without it. Smoke fills her tent where she runs a primitive oven driven by the trash.
“I got prescribed medicine, but I couldn’t afford it, so UNRWA [the UN agency for Palestine refugees] gave me this inhaler, ”she told FN news Correspondent in the enclave.
“When I want to strangle, scream my kids and hurry to the hospital.”
Um Mohammed al-Masri, displaced from Beit Hanoun south of the strip, and worked by a clay oven to bake bread and cook food for displaced to support her family.
‘What should I do?’
The inhaler should last for more than two weeks, but she has to use it so often that she has to get a new one every three days. “What should I do?” She asks.
“I have sons and daughters to take care of. I can’t afford to stop using the oven. I’m pregnant and spend all day sitting in front of smoke.”
Aisha al-ra’i already has several children and is pregnant again. She also has to keep her oven burning every day despite having suffered from chronic illness.
Her daughters help her collect plastic and cardboard residues for fuel early in the morning. Her children and her wounded husband help her light the fire.
“We pray that this ordeal will be lifted from us so that we can return to our lives, she says Tearly.” We hope that living conditions will improve and that people will understand our suffering. “
Aisha al-ra’i, displaced from Gaza City south of the strip
‘We are working because we have to eat’
“I work as a baker with my husband Abu Mohammed,” says Um Muhammad Abu Zuaiter. “We have been working in this profession for a year and a half, and it has caused both of us serious health problems. I have blood pressure, diabetes, a herniated disk, and I need an inhaler.”
Um Mohammed says she was suffering a stroke during the last Ramadan, but she can’t stop working.
“We work because we have to eat. We have young children in our tent who need to go every day to the help distribution points. My sons were injured twice. We have two older daughters who have hearing loss. We pray to God to give us health.”
Dr. Khalil al-Daqran, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, says the use of plastic in clay ovens causes the spread of pneumonia and asthma.
“As Israel continues to keep the crossings closed and prevent the entrance to fuel and food gas, women in the Gaza Strip have resorted to using garbage paper and plastic to cook food and cooking bread in clay ovens.
“This has led to the emission of toxic smoke and fumes, causing the spread of respiratory diseases among the population, which poses a serious public health risk in the Gaza Strip.”
Hospitals that are unable to provide treatment
Dr. Al-Daqran adds that Gaza hospitals are unable to provide healthcare to these patients due to the lack of medicine and basic medical supplies.
“This situation requires urgent intervention from the international community and international organizations to pressure Israel to allow the entry of essential medications, medical supplies, fuel and food.”
Gaza witnesses a worsening of humanitarian crisis as fighting continues, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced to rely on rudimentary means of survival.
The UN is ready to provide more significant help – but too many obstacles are still to allow supplies on the necessary scale.
