Gaza’s toxic air a ‘death sentence’ for trapped Palestinians, warn experts

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) – Experts are warning that millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are breathing toxic and polluted air that is nothing short of a “death sentence.”

Hundreds of thousands of people in the besieged and bombarded enclave are suffering breathing problems and respiratory issues, and doctors say the scale of the problem will continue to grow as Israeli bombs disperse more chemicals into the air, mixing with dust from the unending mounds of rubble throughout Gaza.

The extent of the crisis will also become clearer when Gaza’s health system is restored and hospitals get back the ability to conduct tests and offer other basic services destroyed in Israel’s ongoing assault.

Dr. Riyad Abu Shamala, a Palestinian ENT specialist in Gaza, fears an increase in birth defects in the near future, along with cases of lung cancer, particularly once “hospitals resume operations and departments such as radiology, MRI, CT scan and others … are restored.”

“I believe the general situation will worsen due to the deterioration of living conditions, increased pollution, lack of sanitation, and the contamination of water and air,” he told Anadolu.

Since Oct. 7 last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 995,000 cases of acute respiratory infections in Gaza.

Yara Asi, an academic specializing in health management, believes these numbers are likely a significant undercount.

“It’s much worse than we know because there are countless people that are in homes or in shelters with no access to physicians or hospitals to tell them about their ailments,” said Asi, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida’s School of Global Health Management and Informatics.

- Why are respiratory infections rising in Gaza?

The problem is rooted in “air pollution caused by dust, debris, chemicals from the destruction of buildings … and explosions,” said Abu Shamala.

Another major pollutant is vegetable oil that is being used as a substitute for diesel, he said.

The living conditions in Gaza are dire, with severe overcrowding in displacement camps, thousands of tents in close proximity, and piles of garbage everywhere, which are exacerbating the health crisis, said the doctor.

Along with that is the weakened immunity of people who are malnourished and relying on canned food as the main source of sustenance, he said.

Abu Shamala said the most common respiratory ailments among Gazans right now are acute and chronic bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, bronchitis, sarcoidosis, and lung cancer.

Most people have symptoms such as severe cough, difficulty in breathing, phlegm with cough, including bloody phlegm, rapid breathing and wheezing, he added.

Since last October, Israel has dropped more than 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, and there is more than 40 million tons of rubble across the enclave.

“There are thousands of tons of rubble and dust and people don’t have the tools to clear it. They don’t have the machinery, they don’t have appropriate masks, they’re just walking around in this environment,” said Asi.

Civil rescue workers are literally inside destroyed buildings, trying to dig through the rubble with no protective gear, she said.

“This, of course, will also exacerbate respiratory illnesses,” said Asi.

Normally, smoking is the biggest cause for COPD, but Gaza’s case is entirely different, she said.

“This isn’t a population that is smoking. This is a population that is living amid ruins ... with dust, smoke and toxic chemicals that they cannot avoid,” said Asi.

- Is prevention possible?

Another major unknown and exacerbating factor, according to Asi, is the kind of warfare being seen in Gaza.

There is indiscriminate bombing all around civilian areas and with bombs packing thousands of pounds of explosives, she said.

“We’ve seen glimpses of this in Syria, but in many cases there, aside from areas under siege, people were able to escape. Here, they are trapped,” said the researcher.

“It’s kind of an unprecedented health crisis in many ways.”

Health problems for the people of Gaza “will unfold over the years … (and) we will have to manage and deal with it,” she said.

Asi finds it particularly frustrating that many of the diseases that are threatening Palestinian lives are completely preventable or treatable.

“We have the treatments. We have vaccines for many of them ... All of that is gone, or never was in Gaza, because of the (Israeli) blockade,” she said.

She feels at a loss as to what Gazans can do to protect themselves.

“The ultimate fix … would be to leave Gaza entirely right now, but they cannot even do that,” she said.

“The only thing that will stop this at this point is a cease-fire, and a rigorous and sustained humanitarian effort that includes, in some cases, getting the most vulnerable people out of Gaza to receive the medical care they need.”

- Long-term consequences

Asi warned that respiratory illnesses can have long-term consequences, including for babies, children, elderly people, people with compromised immune systems, people with cancer, and pregnant women.

“It is especially dangerous for children whose bodies, immune systems, and lungs are still developing,” she said.

There are studies on the link between exposure to viral infections or toxins and developing asthma or other types of wheezing disorders later in life, she added.

After the US dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there were more cases of cancers and other genetic anomalies for decades, as was the case after the Iraq war, said Asi.

“We saw greater incidents of cancers and other ailments, especially in children that were born in those settings,” she said.

“Gaza is yet another setting of environmental disaster and destruction that children are growing up or being born in.”

She fears there will be a rise in “lung cancers, mouth cancers, chronic respiratory illnesses, and asthma.”

“This could be a death sentence for many in the near or short-term future,” she warned.​​​​​​​