Gazans struggle with heat, garbage, insect swarms
The Peninsula
Rafah, Palestinian Territories: As garbage piles up and the heat rises in war torn Gaza, flies and mosquitoes proliferate in crowded Rafah city and li...
Rafah, Palestinian Territories: As garbage piles up and the heat rises in war-torn Gaza, flies and mosquitoes proliferate in crowded Rafah city and life becomes even more grim for displaced people living in tents.
Last week, temperatures already topped 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), turning the makeshift shelters made from plastic tarps and sheets into sweltering ovens.
On a sliver of land on the outskirts of the far-southern city on the Egyptian border, about 20 of these tents have been erected, all shaded by a large sheet stretched above them.
But the thin, dark cloth is no match for the blazing sun that has sent temperatures rising fast in late April, making it harder to preserve scarce potable water and food.
"The water we drink is warm," Ranine Aouni al-Arian, a Palestinian woman displaced from the devastated nearby city of Khan Yunis, told AFP.
