Health crisis looming as Gaza heads towards rainy season, warns WHO

Published On 1 Sep 20261 Sep 2026.

Key points

• Cases of acute diarrhea have almost doubled since March, jumping from around 27, 000 cases to over 48, 000, Van de Weerdt observed.
• Israel has been using water access as a "weapon" in Gaza, Doctors Without Borders declared in April.
• Contamination rose from under six percent in January to over 18 percent in August, the tests demonstrated.
• Nevertheless, the WHO official insisted there is still time to prevent a public health disaster.
• Materials needed for permanent shelter and sustainable provision of water and waste management are vital, she remarked.

Meanwhile, the approach of winter and cold rains are set to worsen a public health crisis that already has a firm grip in the embattled Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned.

Recent water testing has shown there is a clear deterioration in the quality of water in the Palestinian enclave and diarrhea cases have surged, the United Nations health agency remarked on Tuesday, noting that the approach of winter threatens to exasperate the situation.

Much of Gaza has been destroyed during Israel's genocidal war, and it remains under blockade, leaving much of its population without sufficient shelter and exposed to a lack of functioning infrastructure.

"Whilst we fail to provide people with the minimum quantities of water, water quality and water contamination remains a major issue, " remarked Reinhilde Van de Weerdt, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories.

Potential flooding resulting from winter rains "will the sewage, the waste and contaminated water into the pl000aces where people sleep, cook and care for their loved ones, " she cautioned.

Testing of approximately 6, 700 water samples over the first eight months of 2026 indicated that "microbiological contamination almost tripled, " she remarked to journalists in Geneva, speaking from Gaza.

Nevertheless, the WHO official insisted there is still time to prevent a public health disaster. She pressed "unimpeded and expedited entry of humanitarian supplies".

Materials needed for permanent shelter and sustainable provision of water and waste management are vital, she remarked. More laboratory supplies are urgently needed to support confirm the causes of disease and better respond to outbreaks.

Israel has been using water access as a "weapon" in Gaza, Doctors Without Borders declared in April. The group pointed to data from the United Nations, European Union and World Bank indicating that Israel had destroyed or damaged almost 90 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure in the territory.

Taken together, the developments around health crisis looming as Gaza heads towards rainy season, warns WHO point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.