Chickenpox is spreading rapidly through Gaza's displacement camps, with nearly 9,300 cases recorded in just two weeks across more than 130 health facilities. Doctors on the ground warn the true number is almost certainly higher, as many sick children never reach hospitals.
The UN health cluster attributes the surge to extreme overcrowding, high summer temperatures, and dwindling access to clean water. More than half of the reported cases are concentrated in the Khan Younis governorate. In the same period, health teams documented over 18,000 new cases of infectious skin diseases including scabies, head lice, and impetigo across the Strip.
No room to isolate
For families living in tents measuring just a few square metres, medical advice to isolate sick children is unworkable. Hamada Abu Ghali, displaced in Nuseirat, told Euronews that his daughter was initially misdiagnosed before a dermatologist confirmed chickenpox. By then, the infection had already spread to one of her brothers.
“They said he has to be on his own, with his own mattress, his own clothes and washing, but where? We are living in a tent and there is literally no space,” Abu Ghali said. “Before the war we had a house and rooms, but today all of us are in one tent.”
His son wanted to go outside like any child, but the area around the tent offered no protection. “However hard you try to protect him, as soon as he goes out he is surrounded by sewage and rubbish. Everything about the situation helps the disease to spread,” Abu Ghali added.
Ahmed Abu Hussein, displaced in Deir al-Balah, described conditions where sometimes more than one family shares a single tent. “In theory he should be isolated because it is an infectious disease, but there is no space and all the children are together. We can't control them or keep them inside the tent, so the infection ends up spreading to the whole family.”
Vaccination crisis deepens vulnerability
Around 1.7 million people now live in more than 1,600 displacement sites across Gaza, according to UN data, amid severe shortages of drinking water, hygiene items, and sanitation services. At Al-Rantisi Children's Hospital, paediatric consultant Dr Sharif Mattar said the published statistics likely represent a significant undercount. Most children with chickenpox are seen in tents or primary healthcare centres and never reach hospital, meaning a substantial share of cases does not appear in the data.
Chickenpox, caused by the varicella-zoster virus, spreads through respiratory droplets, direct contact with blisters, or contaminated surfaces — conditions impossible to control in displacement camps. Nurse Sheimaa Hajji, working at a health centre, said facilities see daily increases in children with skin diseases, most arriving only after the rash has spread widely. Treatment is largely limited to relieving itching and reducing the risk of secondary bacterial infections, but even basic supplies like calamine lotion are running short.
“The sick child is supposed to be kept away from other children until the infectious period is over, but in the tents this is almost impossible,” Hajji told Euronews. “All the children play together and use the same space, so we see the disease passing from child to child and from family to family.”
Bassam Zaqout, director of Medical Relief in the Gaza Strip, said thousands of children born during the war could not complete their vaccination schedules, while restrictions on importing new vaccine shipments have left the health sector unable to strengthen community immunity. He also warned that chickenpox poses risks for pregnant women, including a higher chance of complications for mother or foetus, at a time when specialised maternity care is severely limited.
The World Health Organisation said Gaza's health system continues to operate with limited capacity because of extensive damage to facilities and shortages of medicines and staff. OCHA field visits found displacement sites lacking safe water, with sewage flowing through the streets surrounding the camps. Israel's COGAT said 18,000 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies had entered the Strip since the ceasefire began on 10 October last year, but health workers on the ground say the pace remains insufficient to contain the current outbreak. The UN health cluster has stepped up distribution of fever-reducing medicines and anti-itch treatments, but the underlying conditions of overcrowding and poor sanitation persist.
