SAFA- Gaza's intense summer heat is worsening the suffering of thousands of war-burned survivors. Packed into crowded displacement camps, both children and adults are enduring extreme temperatures that aggravate their injuries without the medical supplies or care needed to treat them.

Children and adults who survived devastating burns during Israel's military offensive are now battling extreme heat that inflames their injuries, while severe shortages of medicines and the continued restrictions on medical evacuations leave many without access to the treatment they urgently need.

Six-year-old Rital Halawa is among the most severely injured burn survivors in Gaza.

Inside the small tent where she now lives with her displaced family, the suffocating summer heat intensifies the pain from extensive burns and permanent scarring covering much of her body. Her case reflects the reality confronting thousands of Palestinians whose injuries have been compounded by displacement and the near-collapse of Gaza's medical services.

Medical experts generally advise burn patients to remain in cool, well-ventilated environments to reduce pain, prevent infection, and promote healing. Such conditions are virtually impossible to find in Gaza's overcrowded displacement camps, where tents trap heat and temperatures can become unbearable.

Critical Shortages Leave Patients Without Care

Hospitals and medical centers lack many of the supplies essential for treating severe burns, including therapeutic creams, skin-repair materials, sterile dressings, antibiotics, and advanced wound-care equipment. At the same time, the continued closure of border crossings has prevented many patients from traveling abroad for specialized reconstructive treatment.

Health workers warn that prolonged exposure to extreme heat, combined with inadequate medical care, increases the risk of infection, severe inflammation, permanent disability, and other long-term complications.

Rital suffered catastrophic injuries on May 22, 2025, when a munition reportedly dropped by an Israeli quadcopter drone exploded while she was playing near her family's destroyed home in Jabalia.

Speaking to Safa News Agency, her mother, Samar, described the devastating impact of the explosion.

"The fire burned almost her entire body," she said. "Her hands, thighs, abdomen, chest, ear, and chin were all badly injured."

Living inside a tent has made recovery even more difficult.

"Burn wounds need fresh air and a cool environment, but none of that exists in displacement," she said. "I feel like my daughter is melting before my eyes, and I can't help her."

The lack of medical supplies has forced Rital to undergo painful treatment sessions every three weeks. During each session, damaged tissue is injected repeatedly without anesthesia or effective pain relief.

"She wakes up bleeding and screaming after the injections," her mother said. "The experience has left deep psychological scars. She isolates herself because she is painfully aware of how much her appearance has changed."

Even maintaining basic hygiene has become an ordeal.

"I can't bathe her with water," Samar said. "I can only gently wipe her body because any contact causes unbearable pain."

She said the family's only hope is for Rital to be evacuated outside Gaza before her condition worsens further.

A Shared Reality Across Displacement Camps

Rital's story is far from unique. In Khan Younis, burn survivor Reham Abdullah continues to struggle with severe injuries while grieving the loss of two of her children, who were killed in an attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid last year.

Like many other burn victims, she endures relentless heat inside a tent that offers no protection from soaring temperatures and little access to the medical support needed for recovery.

Across Gaza, countless families are living under similar conditions, where displacement has turned the healing process into a daily battle against pain, infection, and worsening injuries.

Gaza's Ministry of Health says burn victims account for more than 15 percent of all people injured during the war. Thousands of Palestinians have suffered severe and complex burns caused by incendiary weapons and explosive munitions.

Health officials warn that burn patients remain at serious risk as overcrowded hospitals and field medical points continue operating without sufficient burn ointments, sterile gauze, antibiotics, and other critical supplies.

For many survivors, recovery has become a struggle simply to stay alive. Trapped inside overheated tents without proper treatment, they face worsening injuries every day while waiting for medical care that remains largely out of reach.