In the sweltering displacement camps of Gaza, a silent tormentor adds to the anguish of families already battered by war: mosquitoes. For many like 50-year-old Ruqayya Al-Banna, who clutches her rash-covered grandson outside their tent, the relentless bites are more than a nuisance, they are a source of pain, infection, and sleepless nights.

In overcrowded camps surrounded by sewage and waste, mosquitoes breed in staggering numbers. “We can’t sleep. The children cry all night from the itching,” Ruqayya says. The smell of rotting garbage and stagnant water attracts not just swarms of insects, but disease.

Families trying to survive in the ruins of bombed homes suffer the same fate. “It’s a battle every night,” said Mustafa Abu Tbeikh. “We wake up with bites covering our bodies, and there’s nothing we can do. No medicine, no repellent, nothing.” His attempts to shield his children and elderly parents are in vain.

Dr. Ibrahim Haboub, a dermatology specialist in Gaza, warns of an explosion in skin diseases caused by the bites. While the local mosquito species do not carry malaria, the conditions, heat, humidity, and a total breakdown in sanitation, make even a simple mosquito bite dangerous. “Skin ulcers, bacterial infections, and scarring are on the rise,” he said, adding that hospitals are already overwhelmed and have no treatment to offer.

As summer approaches, this invisible enemy threatens to turn Gaza’s humanitarian crisis into an even darker health disaster, one that bites, stings, and spreads silently among the displaced.