Daijiworld Media Network – Gaza

Gaza, Jul 3: As temperatures in the Gaza Strip soar past 30°C, displaced families like that of Rida Abu Hadayed face unbearable conditions, battling heat, dehydration, and disease inside makeshift tents with no electricity or running water.

Cramped inside a nylon tent with seven children, Hadayed starts her day fanning her little ones with scraps of paper. “They cannot sleep. They keep crying all day until the sun sets,” she said, drenched in sweat.

Her husband, Yousef Hadayed, echoed the despair. “We’re only at the beginning of summer, and our situation is dire.”

The summer heat has amplified the suffering of over 2 million Gazans, most of them now displaced due to Israeli military actions. According to a recent UN report, 93% of households face severe water shortages, with fuel shortages crippling water pumping and desalination plants.

Though Israel began allowing limited aid in May, fuel—critical for operating water facilities—remains blocked, leaving only 40% of drinking water infrastructure functional, the UN said.
“We spend our days pouring water over their heads,” Yousef said. “But even water is hard to find.”

Reham Abu Hadayed, also displaced from Khan Younis, fears for her four children. “I don’t have money for medicine,” she said, as the risk of heatstroke, infection, and dehydration rises sharply.

In Khan Younis, Mohammed al-Awini, 23, described sleepless nights plagued by mosquitoes and flies, drawn by garbage piling up in the absence of sewage systems. “We are awake all night, dying from mosquito bites,” he said. “We are the most tired people in the world.”

UNICEF has warned that without fuel access, children in Gaza will die of thirst in the coming weeks. As the humanitarian crisis worsens with each rising degree, relief efforts remain at a standstill, with no long-term solution in sight.