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<h1 class="gmail-single_title">What does the Israeli ban on cleaning supplies mean for Gaza?</h1>
<p class="gmail-single_date">Thursday 18-July-2024 - <font size="1"><a href="https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2024/07/18/322228/">https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2024/07/18/322228/</a></font></p>
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<p>GAZA, (PIC)</p>
<p>After more than nine months of the Israeli genocidal war,
Palestinians in Gaza face numerous forms of suffering that extend beyond
killing, displacement, and starvation.</p>
<p>In their daily lives, which have been turned upside down, challenges
and problems accumulate, making it increasingly difficult to live in the
tents of displacement that have become the hallmark of the current
Palestinian catastrophe.</p>
<p>Since the start of the genocide war in Gaza 286 days ago, the Israeli
occupation forces have deprived Gaza residents of many basic
necessities, food, and various essential items for their daily lives.</p>
<p><strong>Ban on cleaning supplies<br></strong>The crisis of
unavailable cleaning supplies is one of many problems troubling
Palestinians, who are accustomed to high levels of personal and
household cleanliness. This crisis has opened the door to serious health
repercussions.</p>
<p>For weeks, the Israeli occupation forces have prevented the entry of
all types of cleaning materials into Gaza, aiming to spread diseases
among the population who are already suffering from numerous epidemics
and diseases due to repeated displacement, overcrowding, and water
shortages.</p>
<p>After hours of wandering through Deir al-Balah market, the largest
market in Gaza currently, as the city has become a refuge for hundreds
of thousands of residents and displaced people, citizen Suad Abu
Atiyeh’s attempts to find soap or shampoo were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Abu Atiyeh told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC)
correspondent that she has been searching for days for shampoo or even
soap for washing, but to no avail. Nearly everything in the market has
run out, worsening the overall cleanliness situation, which has already
deteriorated due to water shortages and the accumulation of waste while
living in tents.</p>
<p>She pointed out that the water shortage makes the need for cleaning
supplies even greater, especially given the necessity of communal living
in tents, shelters, and shared bathrooms.</p>
<p>She confirms that the lack of cleaning supplies and water has led to the spread of many diseases and epidemics.</p>
<p>As a result of the occupation’s bombing of tens of thousands of
homes, coupled with Israeli displacement orders, hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians live in tattered tents set up in empty spaces in Deir
al-Balah and Mawasi Khan Yunis, in UNRWA schools, and in universities
that have been turned into shelters, with each classroom now housing
several families.</p>
<p>Hundreds of displaced people are forced to use shared bathrooms amid a near-total lack of cleanliness and health standards.</p>
<p>The PIC correspondent observed that the Deir al-Balah market is completely devoid of all types of cleaning supplies.</p>
<p>According to traders, the occupation army has been preventing the
entry of cleaning supplies into Gaza for a long time, leading to their
depletion from the markets.</p>
<img width="394" height="269" src="https://english.palinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/soap-1000x683.jpeg" alt="" class="gmail-wp-image-322230" style="margin-right: 25px;">
<p><strong>Alternatives<br></strong>Citizen Muath al-Halabi from Khan
Yunis, who lives in a tent, told the PIC correspondent that he has
resorted to using alternatives, such as washing cooking utensils with
sand.</p>
<p>He added that he and his children bathe infrequently using only water, without any shampoo or soap.</p>
<p>He wonders about the reasons, but there are no answers other than the
Israeli determination to exterminate Palestinians on all fronts.</p>
<img width="394" height="263" src="https://english.palinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/soaps-1024x683.jpeg" alt="" class="gmail-wp-image-322231" style="margin-right: 25px;">
<p><strong>Diseases and risks<br></strong>Citizen Maryam Sharab
explained that the lack of cleaning supplies is a real problem because
they live in an unclean environment. The tents are set up on sand, the
temperature inside the tents is high, causing sweating, and the
surroundings are unclean due to the inability to remove waste, coupled
with water shortages.</p>
<p>Sharab told the PIC that this situation has led to the reappearance
of diseases that had been eradicated, pointing to the spread of scabies
and head lice, which, if previously present in some children, are now
widespread among everyone.</p>
<p>According to the Government Media Office, more than 1.7 million
displaced people in Gaza have suffered from infectious diseases due to
displacement.</p>
<p>UN and health reports in Gaza confirm that hundreds of thousands of
Palestinians suffer from various skin diseases due to the lack of
personal hygiene, water shortages, and the absence of cleaning supplies.</p>
<p>UNRWA noted in a post on X that waste is accumulating across Gaza,
with mosquitoes, flies, and rats spreading diseases and epidemics. The
lack of proper sanitation worsens the situation.</p>
<p>Dermatology and cosmetic consultant Nazir Abu Rahma confirms that the
shortage of cleaning supplies has caused a major crisis, particularly
affecting women, with the spread of eczema and hand allergies due to the
unsafe use of locally manufactured cleaning agents with unknown
compositions.</p>
<p>Abu Rahma stated in press remarks that lice and nits have noticeably
spread recently due to water shortages and the difficulty of bathing in
shelters, as well as the spread of fungi due to intense heat and high
humidity inside the tents.</p>
<p>The ban on the entry of cleaning supplies to Gaza has also impacted
the already exhausted and destroyed health sector. Our correspondent
observed firsthand at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and other hospitals that
there are no cleaning agents or disinfectants in the various wards,
affecting the spread of infections and diseases.</p>
<img width="394" height="263" src="https://english.palinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/saos-1024x683.jpeg" alt="" class="gmail-wp-image-322232" style="margin-right: 25px;">
<p><strong>Rationing usage<br></strong>Many citizens have resorted to
rationing the use of the cleaning supplies they have to extend their
duration, while others have shredded soap bars and mixed them with water
to create a liquid for use as shampoo and cleaning fluid.</p>
<p>Local workers in the cleaning supplies industry point out that the
lack of raw materials prevents local manufacturing in sufficient
quantities.</p>
<p>Gaza residents continue to search for cleaning alternatives, using
sand, leaves, and lemon if available, to face the difficult challenges
they are enduring.</p>
<p>Legal experts emphasize that Israel’s periodic ban on the entry of
cleaning supplies, like many other goods, has no justification and is
part of the crime of genocide, aimed at destroying all aspects of
Palestinian life and depriving them of the necessary essentials for a
dignified life.</p>
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