Israel bombed Gaza's water plants, allowing a paralysing condition to spread at speed

Doctors on the front line in the strip tell Alex Croft they have never seen this many cases of acute flaccid paralysis

- 

From the grey rubble of Gaza's bombed water treatment plants, a rare and deadly paralytic disease has emerged that has brought a new crisis to a region already devastated by starvation and illness.

An unprecedented surge in acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) - a condition which causes a rapid onset of muscle weakness and paralysis - has seen 110 people diagnosed in the past three months. In previous years, Gaza saw just one or two cases of AFP per year.

The symptoms occur when the body’s immune system is triggered by certain viruses, in some cases causing it to attack its own nervous system. In Gaza, the rapid spread of waterborne infectious diseases has led to a striking rise in AFP cases.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Dr Ahmed al-Farra, head of paediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told The Independent that Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s vital water treatment plants is largely responsible for the spread of these diseases.

“To see 110 cases, this is incredible. This is an outbreak, it is alarming for us to see that number,” Dr Farra said, describing the situation as “one of the most challenging” medical incidents Gaza has seen since 2023.

Acute flaccid paralysis is associated with a variety of causes, including Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare autoimmune condition and the main cause of AFP in Gaza. Severe cases of AFP and GBS can cause lifetime paralysis, or respiratory failure, potentially resulting in death. Gaza’s health ministry says 36 per cent of the reported cases of GBS were in children aged under 15. In Nasser Hospital and Al-Shifa hospital, the hotspots of the outbreak, at least nine people have died of AFP so far.

Senior Palestinian and Israeli medics, along with the WHO, have told