Israel-Gaza war: long, hot summer set to add to Palestinians’ suffering amid 39 degree heat: ‘It’s going to be very dangerous’
- The temperature in Rafah rose to 39.1 degrees Celsius on April 24, 14 degrees higher than the 30-year average for the same date
- People are living in makeshift shelters that intensify heat rather than protect people from it. The summer heat will also bring disease-transmitting mice
As the US tries to negotiate a cease fire between Israel and Hamas before another major attack on Gaza, a quieter, long-term threat has begun to worsen conditions for Palestinians already displaced by war.
The temperature in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, rose to 39.1 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on April 24, 14 degrees higher than the 30-year average for the same date.
The temperature fell after two days and has remained seasonally normal. The problem is, the season is changing, and summer may bring temperatures much higher than the anomalous April heat spell.
“It is adding an extra layer of suffering on an already catastrophic humanitarian situation,” said Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). In refugees’ makeshift plastic tents, “it’s like living in a greenhouse”.
The April heat spike raised the spectre of what the IFRC calls the “invisible killer” of climate change. At least two children died from heat-related causes, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, said in a social media post.