A displaced Palestinian family living next to a landfill in Gaza

During a field tour inside Gaza City, a human tragedy was observed for a Palestinian family forced to live next to a landfill designated for shelters, after their repeated attempts to find a safe place inside the crowded camps, schools, or shelters failed.

The family of the displaced citizen Hamada Abu Leila lives inside a tent set up amidst piles of garbage, in conditions lacking the basic necessities of life, amidst the absence of services, lack of security, and the spread of foul odors, insects, rodents, and stray dogs.

The head of the family, Hamada Abu Leila, said in his statement that resorting to this place came after a long series of forced displacement between the north and south of the sector.

He added, "I resorted to this place after displacing several times, moving between the north and south, I didn't find a place in the camps or schools or shelters, so I didn't find a place except next to the landfill."

Abu Leila pointed to the cruel irony in his life's path, explaining that he holds 3 university degrees and worked as a teaching assistant at the university before the war.

He added, "I am an educated person with 3 university degrees, I was a teaching assistant at the university and had a 98% average in the Faculty of Da'wah, I was standing in lecture halls teaching students, and today I live amidst a landfill among epidemics and diseases."

With the arrival of night, the family's suffering doubles, where hours of rest turn into hours of terror, according to what he conveys.

Abu Leila describes what he experiences at night, saying, "Night is rest for people, but I hate when night comes, I wake up from sleep and find rats or a snake next to me, God bless you, God, it happened to me that I woke up and found a snake playing in the clothes and bags, and I have nothing to do but be patient."

When asked about how he deals with these scenes, especially with children inside the tent, Abu Leila clarified that helplessness was harsher than fear.

He said, "The only thing I do is cry, I couldn't hold myself back, how can a person who was a teaching assistant at the university become a displaced person sleeping in a landfill among rats and insects, God, it's psychological suffering."

These harsh conditions directly affect the children's health, where the head of the family explains that he had to take his daughter to the hospital due to skin infections resulting from pollution.

During the winter season, the catastrophe worsened after polluted rainwater mixed with garbage and sewage flooded the tent, due to its low location compared to the landfill's height.

Abu Leila explains what happened, saying, "Rainwater entered us because the tent is in a low area, and the landfill is 10 or 12 meters higher than us, and the water level inside the tent rose to 40 centimeters, and it was dirty water and sewage that flooded the clothes and children's belongings."

From her side, Hamada Abu Leila's wife spoke about the daily suffering the family lives, especially at night, with the absence of any real means of protection.

She said in her statement, "Insects fly from the landfill onto the food we eat, there's no kitchen, no clean place, we are 7 people living among filth and germs, and the tent doesn't protect from dog, cat, or insects."

She added that the children wake up terrified at night due to the sounds of dogs and cats gathering around the tent, confirming that sleep is almost non-existent.

At the end of the tour, Hamada Abu Leila addressed a message to the world in English with the approach of a new year, calling for stopping the war, confirming that the suffering of Gaza's residents has not ended yet.

Abu Leila said, "Stop the war, for the war has not ended yet, and we are still suffering."