'Our situation is dire': In war-torn Gaza, summer heat amplifies daily struggle to survive

For Rida Abu Hadayed, summer adds a new layer of misery to a daily struggle to survive in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), daybreak begins with the cries of Hadayed’s seven children sweltering inside the displaced family’s cramped nylon tent. Outside, the humidity is unbearable.

- 

The only way the 32-year-old mother can offer her children relief is by fanning them with a tray or bits of paper — whatever she can find. If she has water, she pours it over them, but that is an increasingly scarce resource. “There is no electricity. There is nothing,” she said, her face beaded with sweat.

“They cannot sleep. They keep crying all day until the sun sets.” The heat in Gaza has intensified hardships for its 2 million residents. Reduced water availability, crippled sanitation networks, and shrinking living spaces threaten to cause illnesses to cascade through communities, aid groups have long warned. The scorching summer coincides with a lack of clean water for the majority of Gaza’s population, most of whom are displaced in tented communities. Many