Gaza Herald-The United Nations delivered pesticides into Gaza to address escalating health risks caused by insects and other environmental hazards, UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said on Friday, while humanitarian agencies stressed that an effective response depends on Israeli authorities allowing the entry of critical equipment still blocked from entering the territory.
The UN said the pesticides were delivered a day earlier to help curb growing risks linked to insects and environmental contamination, with a pest control campaign expected to begin next week.
Haq stated that teams in Gaza have so far relied largely on limited quantities of locally sourced pest control materials. He added that next week’s campaign will focus on areas with heavy waste accumulation near residential neighborhoods, food storage facilities, and public markets.
He also reiterated calls from humanitarian agencies for Israeli authorities to allow the entry of essential rubble-removal and unexploded ordnance disposal equipment, while facilitating access to Gaza’s two sanitary landfills near the territory’s perimeter, in order to strengthen efforts to combat the growing spread of rodents and pests.
Since October 2023, the Israeli military offensive on Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children.
Despite a ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025, Israeli forces have continued carrying out attacks across the Gaza Strip.
